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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FedSpending v2.0 Goes Live!

Feb 22, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

OMB Watch is pleased to annouce we have just released a new version of FedSpending.org with updated data, new features, and improved navigation. The new site is now live - see it yourself at www.fedspending.org. OMB Watch issued a press release that describes the updates and improvments made to the site, and you can learn and see more about FedSpending v2.0 in the About This Site section, or by exploring the site yourself. We welcome your feedback, comments, and questions about the new website, so please go to the Contact section of FedSpending.org and send us your thoughts.

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Snow Hints at Administration Sincerity re AMT Reform

Feb 21, 2007 by Dana Chasin

At a press conference last week, White House press secretary Tony Snow applies the administration's familiar "let's you and him fight" strategy (that's worked so well to paralyze the entitlement reform discussion) to AMT reform:

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Congress Seeks to End IRS Privatization Program

Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate that would halt an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) program that outsources certain tax collection responsibilities to private companies. The costly and dangerous program has been soundly criticized by Congress, the IRS National Taxpayer Advocate, and outside consumer groups since it began last fall.

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Squabbling Over Tax Cuts Continues to Delay Minimum Wage Increase

On Feb. 16, by a vote of 360-45, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 976, a ten-year, $1.3 billion package of offset tax cuts designed to accompany a $2.10 per hour increase in the minimum wage. On Feb. 1, the Senate adopted S. 2 — including its own set of offset tax cuts totaling $8.3 billion over ten years. The two tax packages differ markedly in size and content, and S. 2 includes the minimum wage hike while H.R. 976 comprises only the tax provisions, which could complicate the procedural road ahead.

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A Few Options for Fixing the AMT

Feb 19, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

On Friday, there was a great article ($) in the Wall Street Journal about the AMT and some of the options Democrats have in fixing it. The article's strength, however, is in its summary of the AMT. The Bush tax cuts have accelerated the AMT's reach into the middle class, by reducing the amounts those households would pay under the regular income tax. That's particularly true for families claiming multiple child credits.

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As the Wage Watch Wears On

Feb 15, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The behind-the-scenes struggle over the shape and size of the minimum wage tax package (covered here, here, with an outside critque here) is intensifying, with the White House weighing in heavily and a group of GOP senators raising new objections. The Admin's Feb. 13 Statement of Administration Policy on H.R. 976 endorses the $8.3 billion small business tax cut adopted by the Senate in S. 2. It is not surprising the president favors more tax cuts, but the timing of this release throws more fuel on the fire heading into a conference negotiation between the two chambers.

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Cheney-nomics

Feb 15, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Vice President Cheney, speaking to the National Association of Manufacturers yesterday: By now it's time for even the skeptics to admit that a lower federal tax burden is a powerful driver of investment, growth, and new jobs for American workers. And that increased economic activity, in turn, generates revenue for the federal government. Ummm...you mean even the "skeptics" at your very own Treasury Department? Even they say that permanent tax cuts will make the economy smaller and reduce revenues.

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AMT: However You Slice It, Lots of Offsets

Feb 14, 2007 by Adam Hughes*

Referring to the $1 trillion dollar, 10-year cost of AMT repeal, as we did here, suggests a greater cost than necessary to protect middle-class taxpayers from AMT liability via reform, a distinction we have drawn before in discussing long-term approaches to the AMT.

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AMT Reform Offsets Seen in Corporate Breaks

Feb 14, 2007 by Dana Chasin

House Ways and Means Committee chair Charles Rangel (D-NY) is on a scavenger hunt. With his sights on major Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) reform, he's on the lookout for offset provisions, the bigger the better. Reportedly, he's agreed to have House Select Revenue Subcommittee chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) vet solutions to the problem of how to keep the AMT from engulfing millions more taxpayers this year and beyond. None of the solutions will be cheap; all will require offsets.

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New Fact Sheet on President's Budget and Tax Policy

Feb 13, 2007 by Matt Lewis

The President's supporters have been contradicting the findings of a 2006 Department of the Treasury study while defending the Bush tax cuts. Check out this new OMB Watch fact sheet for the story.

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