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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President Bush: Veto Rhetoric vs. Fiscal Reality

Although Congress has not yet begun to consider any of the appropriations bills that will finance the federal government in FY 2009, the White House threatened to veto Democratic spending bills — even before any details were unveiled. With the flurry of veto threats late in his presidency, President Bush appears to be attempting to erase seven-plus years of reckless fiscal management of the federal government with token gestures that feign fiscal responsibility. Despite these recent actions, budget watchdogs say the Bush legacy on fiscal policy will be one of irresponsibility, inattention to detail, and futility.

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Hi (Economist) Mom!

May 28, 2008 by Craig Jennings

I just wanted to alert readers of a new blog we've been reading: EconomistMom - "where analytical rigor meets a mother's intuition." Authored by economist and mom Diane Lim Rogers of the Concord Coalition, the blog's "particular focus [is] on the economics of fiscal responsibility," but Rogers also writes about broader issues. She's been on a roll lately, explaining the trap of the "largest tax increase in history" rhetoric, expressing frustration about the 'extenders' tax cuts, and righteously high-fiving Steven Pearlstein for his column that connects the dots of the various

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House Relentless in Pursuing Contracting Reforms

In the last several weeks, the House has continued its efforts to address federal contracting reform. With bills stalling in the Senate, the House has begun to attach various reform provisions to legislative vehicles that are more likely to be enacted into law this year. Marrying these proposals to the war supplemental bill and the Defense Authorization bill, for example, greatly increases the chances these important reforms will be implemented in 2008.

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Congress Sends Bush Fair Share Act

May 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

When the Senate unanimously approved the Heroes Earnings Assistance and Relief Tax (HEART) Act (HR 6081) on Thursday, two days after the House approved it 403-0, it also approved a measure that would force federal contractors employing American workers through offshore shell companies to pay Social Security and Medicaretaxes. If signed by the president, the bill's enactment would result in hundreds of billions of in new revenues.

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Time Running Out for Wesley Snipes

May 22, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Our friend Wesley Snipes looks like he is running out of options to avoid going to jail on June 3 for believing he was exempt from paying taxes (oh, and actually not paying taxes too). The Associated Press reports:

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House, Senate Set to Approve Budget Resolution

May 22, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The House and Senate are set to vote on the FY 2009 Congressional Budget Resolution today. OMB Watch sent letters of support for the resolution to both the House and Senate Budget Committees yesterday (House letter, Senate letter). The letters highlight the positive (and negative) aspects of the resolution, as well as the recent historical difficulty of enacting a budget resolution during an election year (hasn't happened since 2000).

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The Bush Tax Cuts are Expensive

May 20, 2008 by Craig Jennings

After playing around with the American Public Media's Marketplace Budget Hero game to which Dana points us, I am struck once again by just how expensive the Bush tax cuts are. This is the scoreboard when you begin. It's the real-world long-term budget outlook as it stands today. When you play the "Repeal the Bush tax cuts" card, the situation improves markedly.

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GI Bill Surtax Would Affect 0.3% of All Taxpayers

May 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

When the House approved the domestic spending amendment to the war supplemental spending bill, it approved not only a $52 billion expansion of the GI Bill, but a 0.5% surtax on income for millionaire couples (individuals earning more than $500,000). According a recent Citizens for Tax Justice report, the tax would affect about 0.3% of all taxpayers.

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TPC Testimony Before Senate Finance Committee

May 16, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and Brookings Institution, has published two tesitmonies from a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing on overhaul of the U.S. tax code: A Blueprint for Tax Reform and Health Reform Leonard Burman

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DAILY FISCAL POLICY REPORT -- May 16, 2008

May 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Tax Policy -- W&M Approves Extenders; Rejects AMT Patch: By a mostly party-line vote of 25-12, the House Ways and Means Committee approved at $57 billion tax package of an assortment of tax breaks yesterday. The committee also voted down a Republican-offered unpaid-for one-year AMT patch. The bill is expected to be on the House floor next week.

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