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...

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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...

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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...

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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...

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Cigarette Taxes: Regressive Yet Beneficial (Maybe)

Nov 13, 2006 by Craig Jennings

In their latest edition of Tax Justice Digest, Citizens for Tax Justice rundown the various tax propositions which appeared around the country on state ballots. CTJ applauds the defeat of a host of dreadful TABOR proposals, estate tax repeals, and a smattering of other awful tax measures, but they also applaud the defeat of cigarette tax increases. But, wait - don’t we want to discourage people from smoking? Now seems like a good time to discuss balancing competing objectives of a just tax code. In this case, the conflict is between degrading tax code progressivity and using the tax code to discourage harmful behavior (harmful not only to the individual who engages in the behavior, but also to those near him or her, and harmful to the economic prosperity of the jurisdiction).

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A Green Light for Pay-Go?

Nov 9, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Having fallen short in the Senate last year by only one vote and this year on a tie vote, and given a new Democratic majority in both houses of the 110th Congress, with budget hawks poised to take over as chairs of the House and Senate Budget Committees, Pay-Go’s time may finally have arrived. Quoted in BNA, OMB Watch’s Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, Adam Hughes, said, "A one-vote difference" in the Senate could be enough to get it through in that body.”

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Next War Supplemental Reported to be Enormous

Nov 7, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

In a continued effort to totally ignore Congress's request to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through the regular annual appropriations process, the Defense Department is in the process of constructing a new supplemental funding request for the wars for FY 2007 - reported to be a whopping $160 billion. Combined with the current $70 billion FY 2007 apporpriations for Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States could spend $230 billion on the wars by the time this fiscal year ends next September. That's approximately half of the total spending on the wars so far!

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Congress Continues Insufficient Oversight of Federal Contracts

Even as reports of contracting fraud and contractor malfeasance continue to stack up, Congress has taken steps to reduce the federal government's capacity to investigate and oversee how government contracts are awarded and administered.

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Time for Miracles?

Nov 6, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

In an op-ed today in the San Fransico Chronicle, Bill Frenzel and Leon Panetta call for a "Budget Summit" to hash out the difficult budget issues:

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Lockheed's Profits and Budget Priorities

Nov 2, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Lockheed Martin, the nation's biggest government contractor, recently announced that its third-quarter profits topped $600 million. Let's assume the vast majority of that profit was earned on government contracts (a fair assumption since Lockheed receives more than two-thirds of its annual revenue directly from the government). Under our assumptions and extending out their quarterly profits - Lockheed will make about $2 billion in profit on government contracts this year. For perspective, that $2 billion is roughly equal to:

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Fiscal Picture: the House Democrats' Agenda for the 110th

Nov 1, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Looking /node/6536 at the House Democrats' legislative agenda for the 110th Congress, a muddled picture emerges of the plan's composite fiscal outcome. The Washington Post points out today that the House Democrats propose tens of billions of dollars in additional spending for revamping the military, tightening port and border security, fully funding first responder needs, increasing college tuition deductions, promoting renewable energy, and expanding incentives for personal savings accounts.

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Speculation on Reform in the 110th Congress

Oct 31, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Long before a potential House or Senate majority was a gleam in their eye, Congressional Democrats pledged earlier this year to support certain lobbying and process reforms. Among them: Lobbying

a ban on Congressional travel, meal, and gifts financed by lobbyists
extension of the lobbying ban for former members of Congress from one to two years
extension of this ban to senior Congressional staff

Process

a minimum 24-hour review period post conference report before voting on legislation
a ban on no-bid government contracts

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New State Reports on Budget Cuts

Oct 26, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Emergency Campaign For America's Priorities (ECAP) has just posted a series of reports on issues related to workers, education, and children. The reports cover how much federal investment in these areas has dropped over the last 2 years, and the impact that these funding cuts have made in 27 states. Take a look and see how your homestate has been doing under this Congress.

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States Continue to Lead on Wages Where Feds Have Failed

Oct 26, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

While congressional Democrats have crowed about raising the minimum wage as a top priority should there be a shift in power in Congress, states continue to blaze past the federal government and enact increases in their respective state minimum wages.

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