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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Why Pay Full Price

Sep 11, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

There have been lots of stories today I was thinking about throwing up on the blog (DCAA shenangians, Interior Department MMS shenangians), but I "http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122109613823821913.html">settled on an article you might have overlooked in the Wall Street Journal about the continuing investigations Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) have been conducting on offshore tax evasion. I've posted a few times (see href="/article/blogs/entry/5326/49" target="_blank">here and here too) over the last few

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Baucus and Grassley Unveil $40 Billion Energy Tax Plan

Sep 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Bill to promote alternative fuels would be offset by ending some tax breaks for oil and gas industry From CQ Politics:

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With Bush Tax Cuts In Effect, Cost of Patching AMT Nearly Doubles

Sep 10, 2008 by Craig Jennings

In perusing CBO's latest budget forecast, I am once again taken by the magnitude of the 2001-2003 tax cuts (AKA the Bush tax cuts).

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Second Stimulus Package In The Works?

Sep 9, 2008 by Craig Jennings

CongressDaily and CQ are both reporting that Congressional Democratic leadership are signaling that they will attempt to move a second stimulus package before they adjourn for the year.

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Congress Returns with Little Time, Huge Workload

Congress returned to Washington the week of Sept. 8 to a jam-packed schedule and just three weeks left to complete work for the year before the target adjournment date of Sept. 26. Below is a brief summary of some of the major pieces of legislation covering fiscal policy issues that will likely be addressed:

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The GAO Report Sen. Levin Was Looking For

Sep 8, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

Last month I blogged about a July GAO report that studied the percentage of companies that reported little or no tax liability from 1998 through 2005. While I think the report itself is very telling, I also chastised Sens. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Carl Levin (D-MI) a bit (well, really just Levin) for jumping to the conclusion that companies were intentionally cheating on their taxes.

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CBO Releases Monthly Budget Review

Sep 8, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their Monthly Budget Review on Friday last week, showing lots of red ink for the federal government in FY 2008.

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CBPP: Taxes on the Rich Don't Hurt Small Businesses

Sep 2, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released an analysis this past Friday afternoon examining the impact of tax cuts for high-income households. In particular, the analysis attempts to understand the impact those tax cuts would (or would not) have on small businesses. CBPP used a broad definition of small business in their analysis when they looked at the impact of increasing the top two marginal tax rates, retaining the estate tax, and closing the carried interest loophole. The paper concludes:

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A Swing and a Miss on Tax Evasion

Aug 29, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

A quick item to share from the Boston Globe today about the lengths companies will go to avoid taxes. This one from Raytheon is really over the top: The Waltham defense contractor [Raytheon] unsuccessfully tried to persuade a Massachusetts state tax board that because most of the company's work is done for the federal government, it should be exempt from paying state sales taxes on much of what it buys here - items as diverse as toilet paper, a juke box, and promotional gifts such as golf umbrellas, pins, and key chains.

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The Executive Pay Pie: Extra Large Slices and Topped with Tax Subsidies

Aug 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Staying with our current theme of taxes and corporate America, let me direct your attention toExecutive Excess 2008: How Average Taxpayers Subsidize Runaway Pay -- a report from Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.

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