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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Estate Tax: Where Are The Charities?

Sep 19, 2006 by Matt Lewis

A repeal of the estate tax may decrease charitable giving, yet charities have been largely silent on the issue. From Bloomberg News: That's the dilemma facing charities, universities, museums and other organizations that rely on donations as Senate Republicans consider another vote on permanently reducing the tax as early as this week. Most of the organizations are following [James] Tisch's advice, keeping mum on the issue in deference to their most generous patrons: the very wealthy who often serve on their boards.

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GAO Report Highlights Magnitude of Fiscal Challenge

Sep 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Earlier, Matt posted about a GAO report released today about the unsustainability of the federal budget. The report illustrates in six pages the enormity of the challenges the federal budget faces. And it makes clear that even if Congress allows the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire, as is currently the law, the federal government will have to make serious changes to its current fiscal policy.

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Gang of Four Struggle With Trifecta Strategy

Sep 14, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

Be sure to check out our own Dana Chasin guest blogging over at TPM Cafe this month on the trifecta bill and the estate tax. Frist has now charged four Republican Senators with the task of figure out how to ram through his failed strategy on the estate tax before they recess for the year. Get all the latest details at TPM Cafe: Trifecta Failure -- The Fingerprint File.

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A Medicare Fix to Cure Ailing Trifecta?

Sep 14, 2006 by Dana Chasin

With time running out before adjournment and the House Republican Study Committee now openly urging that the tax credit extension component of the “trifecta” (HR 5970), be passed as a separate bill, GOP House and Senate congressional leadership is beginning to look desperate. Yesterday, House Ways and Means Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) floated the idea of adding a fourth piece to the trifecta that would stop the scheduled 5.1 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians now set for Jan. 1.

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Trifecta Bill May Resurface in Senate This Month

The fate of the "trifecta" bill and middle-class tax cuts remains uncertain, as GOP leaders send mixed signals about their intentions and the GOP ranks appear restless. In late July, the House passed a so-called "trifecta" package (H.R. 5970) that would roll back estate taxes, increase the minimum wage, and extend several business and other tax credits. Solely because of the inclusion of the estate tax cut, the package failed in the Senate, falling three votes short of the 60 necessary to end debate.

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IRS Privatizes Tax Collection, Senate Stirs

Sep 12, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) introduced a bill today that would end the IRS privatization initiative. You can read Dorgan's press release here. Also, the IRS appears to have gone forward with the initial phase of the privatization plan. This from the National Treasury Employees Union:

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Senate Finance Committee Looks at Executive Compensation Excesses

A Sept. 8 Senate Finance Committee hearing demonstrated that a 1993 tax code reform has failed to curb the growth of extravagant CEO compensation packages. In fact, the reform created loopholes that have opened the door for outrageous salaries and bonuses, and unscrupulous behavior by company executives and boards of directors. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) vehemently denounced the loopholes in the tax code created by the 1993 reforms.

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Mounting Frustration with Frist's Fixation

Sep 12, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Congress Daily reported today that dissension within the business community over Bill Frist’s trifecta strategy — his insistence on linking the estate tax cut with the tax credit extensions -- boiled over at a White House meeting last Wednesday.

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Pirates of the Caribbean 3?

Sep 12, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Last week, you may remember that a group of oil companies announced that they discovered a huge new field in the Gulf of Mexico. The field is in federal territory, so the oil companies must take out a lease with the federal government and pay royalties on the oil they drill. Sounds fair, right? Well, despite record profits and high prices, the oil companies may get a massive break on royalties payments. Via Dean Baker, the NY Times has the story.

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IRS Commissioner Everson Pursues Failed Scheme

Sep 8, 2006 by Craig Jennings

To keep you informed of IRS Commissioner Mark Everson's latest antics, we bring you this from American Public Media's Marketplace. Yesterday, they aired a great piece on the outsourcing of IRS collections. The nut of the story is this: The IRS wants to outsource the job of collecting outstanding taxes due and let the collection agency keep a percent of haul.

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