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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Bush Nominee May Have Some Sense on Tax Cuts

Jun 29, 2006 by Guest Blogger

Henry Paulson, Bush's nominee for the position of Treasury Secretary, differs from the President in that he does not believe tax cuts pay for themselves. While Bush (as well as a number of Congressional GOP leaders) have falsly claimed that tax cuts can pay for themselves, it seems that Paulson has some sense. He told the Senate Finance Committee recently, "As a general rule, I don’t believe that tax cuts pay for themselves." More information at Think Progress.

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Estate Tax Update

Jun 28, 2006 by Craig Jennings

BNA confirms an earlier rumor that Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) won’t bring estate tax repeal reduction to a floor vote. The Republican leadership in the Senate couldn’t garner enough votes to end debate on decimating the estate tax - Frist needs 60 votes to bring a vote to the floor. Referring to his intention to raise the issue again Frist said in a statement, "the Senate will vote on a permanent reduction to this tax--a tax that destroys small businesses and family farms."

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Back From the Dead: Estate Tax "Compromise" Could Move in Senate Soon

The House voted last week to approve an estate tax "compromise" that is, in reality, backdoor repeal of the tax. The vote clears the way for another Senate vote on the estate tax, following the Senate's rejection of repeal earlier this month.

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Estate Tax Vote Postponed This Week

Jun 27, 2006 by Guest Blogger

We got word that the estate tax vote that may have been taking place in the Senate this week has been postponed and will not be taking place this week (or next week since they will be out for recess). This is good news. The longer they linger on holding this vote, the less of a chance it has of actually happening. The vote is not taking place this week likely because Majority Leader Frist (R-TN) knows he does not have the votes to overcome the necessary procedural hurdles.

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Warren Buffett Opposes Estate Tax Repeal

Jun 27, 2006 by Craig Jennings

ThinkProgress points us to a New York Times article in which Warren Buffett states his opposition to estate tax repeal: Mr. Buffett said repealing the estate tax "would be a terrible mistake," the equivalent of "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."...

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Estate Tax Update

Jun 26, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Last week, the House approved Rep. Bill Thomas’ (R-CA) estate tax repeal reduction bill. This week, the Senate will take up the issue when it begins debate on estate tax near-repeal. Senate majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) is expected to ask for a vote to end debate to bring the Senate’s version of the house bill to a full floor vote. To garner the 60 votes needed to end debate Frist will have to convince three Democrats to vote for cloture. Because of your e-mails two weeks ago, the Senate was persuaded to refuse to kill the estate tax. We’ll do it again this week! Take Action!

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House Approves Line-Item Veto, Continues to Outsource the Job it was Elected to do

Jun 23, 2006 by Craig Jennings

The House approved (247-172) Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-WI) Line Item Veto bill. The bill, also referred to as "line-item rescission", would give the president the power to force Congress to vote on specific line items on bills sent to him by Congress. President Clinton signed (and used) a more potent version of line-item veto, but it was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

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House Passes Estate Tax Repeal

Jun 22, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Not surprising, but what is interesting is that the vote tally reveals that the House equates the Thomas compromise to full repeal. The House voted to pass legislation that significantly reduces the Estate Tax. The bill, introduced by Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), would amount to a 75% repeal of the Estate Tax. But, mirroring last year’s vote on full repeal, Thomas’ bill has proven to be no more popular than full repeal.

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IRS Cleared to Begin Wasting Money Again

Jun 21, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Earlier this year we blogged (here and here) about a new program authorized by Congress to allow the IRS to outsource its tax collection to private collection agencies. This program has caught the wary eye of a few folks in Congress, most of all Representative Steve Rothman (D-NJ). Rothman recently successfully lead the charge against this policy, blocking the IRS from spending money on the program in the FY 2007 Treasury-Transportation bill recently approved by the House. Now all that is necessary to stop the program is successful passage in the final appropriations bill later this year.

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Estate Tax on Chopping Block in House Again

Jun 20, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

House Republicans are moving quickly on a proposal to roll back the estate tax so much that it almost amounts to a repeal. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Bill Thomas (R-CA) introduced a bill Wednesday that more or less matches the bill proposed by Sen. John Kyl (R-AZ). A floor vote is expected for Thursday. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that the Thomas bill would cost the Treasury $602 billion between 2012-2021, or 75 percent of a full repeal. You can find more details on how the Thomas bill would change the estate tax in this Washington Post article.

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