Federal Budget Policy

Feb 8, 2016

Top 400 Taxpayers See Tax Rates Rise, But There’s More to the Story

As Americans were gathering party supplies to greet the New Year, the Internal Revenue Service released their annual report of cumulative tax data reported on the 400 tax r...

read in full

Feb 4, 2016

Chlorine Bleach Plants Needlessly Endanger 63 Million Americans

Chlorine bleach plants across the U.S. put millions of Americans in danger of a chlorine gas release, a substance so toxic it has been used as a chemical weapon. Greenpeace’s new repo...

read in full

Jan 25, 2016

U.S. Industrial Facilities Reported Fewer Toxic Releases in 2014

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data for 2014 is now available. The good news: total toxic releases by reporting facilities decreased by nearly six percent from 2013 levels. Howe...

read in full

Jan 22, 2016

Methane Causes Climate Change. Here's How the President Plans to Cut Emissions by 40-45 Percent.

UPDATE (Jan. 22, 2016): Today, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released its proposed rule to reduce methane emissions...

read in full

more news

Wealthy Congressmen Support Estate Tax

The estate tax, one of the most progressive tax policies in America, only currently affects the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Yet contrary to personal self interest, many members of Congress are not basing their position on the issue on their own pocketbooks. In his recent article in Tax Notes, Martin Sullivan made the ironic observation that on average, the more wealthy members of Congress, many of whom would be substantially taxed under the estate tax, are fighting the Bush administration’s attempts at repeal.

read in full

Bush Signs Bill Extending Internet Tax Moratorium

On Dec. 3, President Bush signed the Internet Tax Nondiscrimination Act (S. 150), extending a moratorium on all taxation of Internet access and certain aspects of related electronic commerce through 2007. The bill is a result of a multi-year struggle over policy related to taxing Internet access and the development of broadband services across the United States.

read in full

Bush Plans Economy, Tax Summit Dec. 15-16

The White House will host a two-day summit in Washington, DC, to gather expert opinions on a variety of topics related to the economy, including budget and tax reform, Social Security, extending expiring tax cuts and health care. The Dec. 15-16 summit will solicit input from the business community, including small businesses.

read in full

Bush Won't Raise Payroll Tax To Fund Social Security Changes

Dec 10, 2004 by Guest Blogger

President Bush made clear yesterday his opposition to raising payroll taxes in order to fund potential changes to social security. A payroll tax is a percentage of an individual's salary that goes into social security and medicare funds. The percentage paid into those funds is matched by employers, in order to raise adequate revenue for these entitlement programs.

While this administration is seriously looking into reforming social security -- an anti-poverty program which was implemented during the New Deal -- they have yet to explain how they will pay for this overhaul, which could cost anywhere from $1 - $2 trillion in transfer costs alone. On top of this, the administration has pledged to cut the deficit in half by 2009, and keep the first term tax cuts in place. Raising payroll taxes could help pay for social security overhaul, and even though the policy appears to have bipartisan support in Congress, the President has ruled it out as an option.

The fact that this administration is unwilling to look into raising payroll taxes means that they are more likely to look into increased borrowing or non-defense discretionary budget cuts to help stabilize the economy. In an article in today's Washington Post, Congressman Robert Matsui (D-CA) is quoted as saying, "I fear this means the administration will employ sham accounting gimmicks in an attempt to hide the true costs of their privatization schemes. Ultimately, hiding the truth about benefit cuts or fleecing the public on massive borrowing would have a disastrous effect on the economy, not to mention betray the trust of the American people."

read in full

Snow Will Remain As Treasury Secretary

Dec 9, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Yesterday, December 8th, President Bush asked Treasury Secretary John Snow to remain in his position for the next two years, at least. After meeting breifly with the President, he agreed. Snow first joined the Bush administration in February 2003 after former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill was ousted; prior to that, he headed CSX, a large railroad company. Snow's position as Treasury Secretary puts him in one of the nation's most central economic policymaking posts.

This announcement is particularly noteworthy because of the rumors that have been circulating recently regarding whether Snow would remain on board in the second term. On Monday, the New York Times even reported that "President Bush has decided to replace John W. Snow as treasury secretary and has been looking closely at a number of possible replacements, including the White House chief of staff, Andrew H. Card Jr., Republicans with ties to the White House say."

Despite the rumors, Snow will remain to help the administration sell its second term economic agenda to the public and Congress. This decision comes at a time of considerable economic uncertainty, as we are faced with an increasingly weaker dollar, a growing deficit, and looming discussions of both tax reform and an overthrow of the social security entitlement program. Mr. Snow, as today's New York Times states, is largely seen as a "salesman for White House policies."

For more information on Snow as Treasury Secretary, click here and here.

read in full

The Spending Bill: What's Inside?

Dec 7, 2004 by Guest Blogger

The FY 2005 spending bill includes $388 billion worth of government spending, and is over 3,000 pages long. So what’s inside? How do funding levels differ from last year? Here is a glimpse —

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's budget was cut by $618 million, reducing it by 1.6 percent, to $37.3 billion. That amount was still $521 million more than the president requested;

Earlier this year, Bush proposed cutting the Environmental Protection Agency's budget by more than 7 percent. Congress softened that blow, but nevertheless sliced the agency's funding by more than 3 percent -- about $277 million -- to approximately $8.08 billion. The bill also includes legislative language allowing the government to continue charging various fees at some national parks, to permit the slaughter of some wild horses roaming the West and to continue to allow snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park;

Congress approved the smallest budget increase in nearly a decade for the Department of Education. The total discretionary budget of $56.6 billion is up $916 million, or 1.6 percent, on 2004 levels. Spending on several higher education programs, including the popular Pell Grants for low-income students, didn't keep pace with rising costs. The maximum Pell Grant was frozen at $4,050 for the third year in a row;

The budget funds the first deployment of a national missile defense system, at a cost of $10 billion. It also increased by $1.5 billion the administration's request for spending on ground combat systems, such as tanks, trucks and Humvees;

At the behest of Rep. David Joseph Weldon (R-Fla.), House negotiators inserted language into the bill allowing doctors, hospitals and insurers to refuse to perform abortions or offer abortion counseling. The budget for abstinence education increased by $30 million, to $105 million;

Funding for LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program) increased from $1.89 billion to $2.18 billion. While this is a sizable increase, many supporters of the program are arguing that it is not nearly enough to keep up with the projected 24 percent increase in home heating costs that we are expected to see this year;

The Justice Department gained nearly $1 billion in new funding, faring even better than it would have under Bush's request. Most of the increase -- $625 million -- will go to the FBI to improve its counterterrorism and counterintelligence programs and to revamp its antiquated technology systems. At $5.2 billion, the bureau's rapidly growing budget dwarfs other Justice agencies;

The Department of Transportation spending fell 5 percent, from $46.1 billion to $43.9 billion, in fiscal 2004. Federal highways received $35.5 billion, or $1.9 billion more than in fiscal 2004. The Federal Aviation Administration, which already took funding hits this year, will receive $13.6 billion, $219 million less than in fiscal 2004.

This information, plus much more, can be found in a very detailed article in today’s Washington Post. You can find that article here.

read in full

Spending Bill Highlights

Dec 3, 2004 by Adam Hughes*

Although the FY2005 spending bill won't officially be passed by Congress or signed by the President for a few more days, the bill is pretty much complete. For good highlights and assessments of the bill, check out the following two sources:

Senate Republican Policy Committee Summary
House Appropriations Committee Press Release

For the latest information on the tax return provision included in the spending bill, check out this Washington Post article.

read in full

Watcher: November 30th, 2004

Dec 1, 2004 by Guest Blogger

Federal Budget

Congress Delays Spending Bill, Tackles Tax Return Provision
Congress Raises Debt Limit, Fails to Pass Intelligence Bill
White House Rejects Overtime Rules Amendment

read in full

White House Rejects Overtime Rules Amendments

In both versions of the FY 2005 Labor-HHS spending bill, the House and Senate approved amendments intended to block the White House from implementing new and harmful overtime rules. Those amendments, sponsored by Rep. David Obey (D-WI) and Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), would have reinstated old overtime eligibility rules for some workers, and were seen as a major victory for labor.

read in full

Congress Raises Debt Limit, Fails To Pass Intelligence Bill

While members of Congress were unable to complete work on the omnibus spending bill or the intelligence bill during the lame-duck session, they did manage to complete their work on the debt limit.

read in full