Revenue & Spending

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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more news

Hiding Under the TARP

Oct 29, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The Treasury Department has been writing checks to banks for a couple weeks now.

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Consensus on Corporate Tax Reform?

Oct 29, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a new report on Monday that examines U.S. corporate tax rates in comparison to other countries with developed economies. The report finds that although the statutory tax rate on corporations in the U.S. is high (35 percent), the actual percentage of taxes paid (their effective tax rate) is well below the average of other similar countries.

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Notes from the Economy: Getting Worse Before it Gets Better

Oct 27, 2008 by Craig Jennings

An article in the Wall Street Journal brings us another reason Congress should pass an effective stimulus package during a possible lame-duck session in November. One of the starkest indicators is that the number of people who have been unemployed for 27 weeks or more reached two million in September. That's 21% of the total unemployed, and approaching the prior peaks of about 23% in 2003 and 1992. [...]

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Silver Lining to the Financial Crisis

Oct 24, 2008 by Craig Jennings

If anything, the collapse of the nation's financial markets has forced even the staunchest of believers in the Free Market^® to consider the possibility that sometimes the "market" doesn't know best.

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The End of an Era?

Oct 23, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Update: Bloch was fired by the White House yesterday. From CongressDaily ($): Scott Bloch, the embattled head of the U.S. Special Counsel, was fired today in a meeting with White House officials, according to several sources...On Monday Bloch announced plans to resign on Jan. 5. OSC employees said Federal Protective Service employees barred Bloch from his office today. The agency has an all-hands meeting at 4 p.m.

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Better Proposals, Please

Oct 22, 2008 by Craig Jennings

In this week's Watcher, we write about how the political landscape for a fiscal stimulus package is shaping up. Essentially, everyone agrees there needs to be some sort of fiscal policy legislation called "a stimulus package," but that's where the agreement stops. At issue is the size and what elements should be included in the package. We get into these issues in the article, but here I wanted to flag what I think will be typical of the ensuing debate.

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Commentary: Despite Record Deficits, Stimulus Package Warranted

Although enactment of an economic stimulus package could push the federal budget deficit above $1 trillion, political consensus on its necessity is emerging. Political factions are split on the issues of how large and what form a stimulus package should take. Economists, however, indicate that targeted spending can be a powerful weapon to address recession and the effects of economic hardship on American families, even if it increases the deficit. Now is exactly the time to be enacting such fiscal policy.

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Notes from the Economy: Underemployment

Oct 17, 2008 by Craig Jennings

While the monthly number is an important component in summarizing the state of economy, it's an incomplete indicator. For example, at the state level in August, 20 states had unemployment rates greater than the national average of 6.1 percent, while 31 states had unemployment rates below the national average. Yet, the trend is unmistakable: compared a a year ago, 48 states have seen their unemployment rate increase with 34 percent increasing more than one percentage point.

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Nonsense

Oct 17, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Pushing back against Democratic congressional leadership's call for another stimulus package, White House spokesperson Dana Perino told reporters: A lot of their discussions yesterday, as I understood it, are not necessarily items that we think would stimulate the economy. Additional benefits to individuals who may need support during an economic downturn aren't necessarily stimulative. And yet, about three weeks ago, the non-partisan Congressional Research Service issued a report on the economic slowdown saying just the opposite.

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Bush Thumbs Nose at New Government Accountability Law

Oct 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

On Tuesday, President Bush issued one of his infamous signing statements for a bill that will improve the independence of inspector general (IG) offices within the federal government. Since IG offices monitor efficiency, waste, and fraud in the government, but are also housed within the federal government, Congress saw fit to enact new measures to insulate IG offices from political pressures. (More on the bill here.)

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