Federal Tax 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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Sen. Lincoln Called Out on "Incoherent Vision of Gov't"

Jun 20, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Sen. Blanche Lincoln was called out in the LA Times on Sunday by The New Republic Senior Editor Jonathan Chait for what he called Lincoln's "incoherent vision of government." Chait points out the irony of Lincoln's actions on June 8 when she went to the Senate floor to speak passionately for repeal of the estate tax to protect mythical small farms and businesses while in the very same day delivering an irate speech about the need for more government investment in anti-hunger programs.

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True Patriot: Frist Wants to Bring Up Estate Tax Before July 4

Jun 16, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) outlined his schedule for the next two weeks today, and his plans include bringing up the estate tax again. Frist told reporters, "I'll do everything I can to have another vote on the 'death tax' by July Fourth;" who knows if he will seriously be able to get away with doing this, or if he is only stating his desire to bring up the issue again to pander to his base. Frist acknowledged that he does not have the necessary support in the Senate for full repeal, and so he will probably turn to Sen. Kyl's compromise.

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Tax Gap Sits at $345 Billion

Jun 15, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing Tuesday at which the $345 billion tax gap was one of the main topics of discussion. At the hearing, IRS Commissioner Mark Everson voiced his concerns regarding corporations becoming increasingly adept at taking advantage of the complex tax code in order to pay fewer taxes. Ranking member Max Baucus (D-MT), who apparently has long been concerned about the tax gap, asked Everson to provide an estimate of the resources it would take to begin closing the gap.

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A Step In The Right Direction

Jun 15, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The House inched closer toward fiscal sanity yesterday when it voted to ban the IRS’s costly practice of using private collection agencies to collect uncontested tax debts.

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Moderately Rich Better Off With Estate Tax

Jun 13, 2006 by Guest Blogger

In this excellent article in today's Washington Post, columnist Allan Sloan explains why having an estate tax in place (he uses the 2009 levels as an example) would actually be more beneficial to most wealthy people than repealing the estate tax. He explains this issue in terms of having a stepped-up basis vs. a carry-over basis in place (the article explains it all very clearly).

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Senate Rejects Estate Tax Repeal; Frist Likely to Turn to Costly 'Compromise'

Last week, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) failed to garner enough support for a procedural vote to move forward with debate on estate tax repeal. The Senate's reject of the motion signals lawmakers may now have realized that their priorities should reflect those of their constituents and the pressing issues facing the country, not tax breaks for multi-millionaires.

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Follow Up on Kasoff Op-ed in The Hill

Jun 12, 2006 by Guest Blogger

About a month ago there was an op-ed in The Hill by Women Impacting Public Policy president Barbara Kasoff that spun estate tax repeal as being positive for women and minority business owners. Not only was the article chalk full of misleading statements, but it was written by the president of a group whose members have a special financially lucrative interest in seeing the estate tax repealed (for more information see our previous blog posting on the article.

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OMB Watch Statement on Estate Tax Vote

Jun 8, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

OMB Watch released the following statement on the vote to table the estate tax repeal debate:

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Senate Rejects Motion to Proceed on Estate Tax Repeal

Jun 8, 2006 by Guest Blogger

The Senate just completed a procedural vote on repeal of the estate tax, and the motion was not agreed to. The Republican leadership would have needed 60 votes in order to proceed with consideration of full repeal of the estate tax; the final vote count was 57-41.

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Estate Tax Vote Expect This Morning

Jun 8, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Senate is expected to vote on a motion to proceed to H.R. 8 - full repeal of the estate tax. The vote will likely be very close with Republicans needing 60 votes to begin debate on full repeal. If the vote passes, the Senate will likely reject a full repeal, but may pass a awful so-called compromise that pretty much just as bad as full repeal. For details on the probable breakout of the vote, see my post from yesterday over at TPM Cafe. Senate vote will be on C-SPAN 2.

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