April 15. Tax Day. Woohoo! (Sometimes it helps to cheer things you might not like.) Although all most many people are not looking forward to today, it has come nonetheless, as it does every year. And while you really can't avoid paying taxes each year, you can do something today to learn more about what those tax dollars are being spent on. Ordinarily this would be a difficult project involving sifting through budget books and deciphering complex spending tables. Luck for you the National Priorities Project (NPP) is on the job.

 

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published a fantastic, in-depth report this month examining the state of disclosure of state level tax expenditures. The report reviews the best (OR, MN, and CT) and worst (AR, MD, and RI) state reports and outlines the best practices for the ideal tax expenditure disclosure. CBPP makes a strong case that increased disclosure of tax expenditure data by states would improve policies and accountability:

If properly designed and implemented, a tax expenditure report makes tax expenditures more transparent by telling policymakers and the public how the state is spending its money and what it is accomplishing through those expenditures. A tax expenditure report also encourages accountability by enabling policymakers and voters to evaluate individual tax expenditures and decide whether to continue them. In addition, a tax expenditure report saves money by enabling policymakers to monitor the costs of tax expenditures and rein in their cost if necessary.

The estate tax just can't seem to stay out of the headlines lately. First, the New York Times ran another great editorial this morning browbeating the 10 Democratic and 41 Republican senators who voted to increase tax cuts for multi-millionaires last week. The Times held particular scorn for Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), who tried to justify offering the amendment to reward the super-rich saying it was really about small businesses and job creation. From the editorial:

The implication is that upon the death of an owner, estate taxes typically devastate small businesses and the jobs they provide. That is swill.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its monthly budget review this morning that estimates a deficit of $953 billion for the first half of FY 2009. This is a whopping $640 billion more than for the same period in FY 2008.