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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Strange Happenings at the IRS Could Affect Enforcement

This fall, the Internal Revenue Service will likely make two changes to its tax enforcement efforts that defy logical explanation. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson will soon go forward with plans to cut nearly half its staff of estate tax auditors and to create a program that would allow private companies to pursue taxpayers who owe back taxes.

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Everson Presses Forward With Privatization

Aug 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

IRS Commissioner Mark Everson is moving forward with his plan to privatize debt collection despite Congressional opposition. BNA (sub. req'd) reports that Everson rejected a request from Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) to cancel the privatization project that's slated to begin in late August or early September. See here for more information about the program. In his response to Rothman, Everson admitted that the program won't be cost-efficient, but contended that Congress and the President have left him no other options.

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Pryor to Offer Estate Tax Bill

Aug 18, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-AR) is working on a bill to cut back the estate tax. Pryor said his plan would increase the exemption to $5 million and set the tax rate at 35 percent. "It really takes care of the small business family farm problem we have in the state," Pryor said about his plan. "It doesn't completely fix up everybody, but it makes it so much better for virtually everybody." He said less than 3 percent of taxpayers actually pay the estate tax. "We're not talking about the 97, 98 percent who don't pay it," he said. "We're trying to fix it for people in small towns who own a car dealership, own a convenience store (or) have a farm." I hope the Waltons are happy.

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Pension Bill=Tax Cut

Aug 17, 2006 by Matthew Madia

Today, President Bush will sign another regressive tax cut into law. Yes, ladies and gentleman, I'm talking about the pension reform bill, which happens to not only fix some problems with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, but also makes permanent a handful of the temporary tax cuts passed in 2001. The Tax Policy Center, a joint project of the nonpartisan Brookings Institute and Urban Insitute, estimates that the tax cuts will save people in the top income quintile about $368 a year, while people in the bottom quintile get $8.

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Grassley To Move Forward With Estate Tax

Aug 16, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) may try to make an estate-tax compromise the first order of business when the Senate returns from recess, according to WebCPA: Spokespeople for Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, are already saying that his take on an estate tax reform bill could be next on Congress's docket. A Republican-led effort resulted in the bill's second defeat on the Senate floor last week, but any legislation brought by Grassley would likely be a compromise crafted within the Finance Committee and aimed at winning the support of Democrats.

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The Mystery of Estate-Tax Fever

Aug 16, 2006 by Matt Lewis

From the San Francisco Bay Guardian, a great article that connects the dots between the IRS's plans to downsize its estate tax division and the mania in Congress. It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're new to the estate tax debate. Here's one interesting (but purely speculative) point from the article: Estate planner Schiller likened opponents of the estate tax to medieval villagers who complained of gout to prove how well nourished they were. "People want to believe they have an estate-tax problem," he said, "so they can feel successful."

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Estate Tax Reduction Could Prompt More Regressive State Tax Policies

Aug 15, 2006 by Craig Jennings

Not only has the reduction in the estate tax made the federal tax regime less progressive, it could make state tax policies less progressive as well. Andrea Coombs writes in the Wall Street Journal: Because of a federal law that has been phasing in over the past few years, the states' share of federal estate-tax revenue has fallen to zero, from 16% in 2001...Budget-challenged states are feeling the pinch. And a number of states have responded with some form of estate or inheritance levies of their own.

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More on the Crock That Is Supply Side Economics

Aug 15, 2006 by Matthew Madia

This post is just to hammer the point further about much of a sham supply side economics really is. The CRS memo, discussed earlier by Matt, was requested as "a discussion of the dynamic model used by the Treasury Department," and includes a comparison of various models used in two Treasury reports. ("Dynamic scoring" is a method by which future tax revenues are calculated based on different economic conditions due to changes in tax policies.)

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Tax Cuts Don't Help Government, Economy

Aug 14, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Let's add the Congressional Research Service to the list of government agencies that have demonstrated that the Bush tax cuts come nowhere near to paying for themselves. Even more damaging, though, is the finding that the tax cuts barely grow the economy in the long-run. From Congress Daily (subscription required):

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Trollin'

Aug 14, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

It's been a slow day at the BudgetBlog, so we thought we'd point out a few interesting links. Tax & Business Law Commentary Blog has two good posts up, one about howBig Pharma is stiffing the IRS on taxes it owes on its foreign sales and assets, and another on how Rep. Gary Miller (R-CA) is stiffing the IRS on taxes he owes on his property sales. Feel free to ponder the potential meta-connections between the posts. And check out this article from the Rapid City Journal on the effects that federal budget cuts may have on water supply issues in South Dakota. It's pretty frightening stuff.

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