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

Congressional Democrats -- Who's your Daddy Party?

Dec 20, 2006 by Dana Chasin

The Wall Street Journal today offers a must-read page-one article on the fork in the road ahead for Democrats regarding the Party's identity on economic issues. Appearing arrayed against each other are the Clintonian, "establishment," free-trading internationalists led by Robert Rubin and the populists and organized labor challengers focused on economic -- especially job, health care, and retirement -- security.

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Watcher: December 19, 2006

Dec 20, 2006 by Matt Lewis

2006 Fiscal Policy Year in Review: Process Failures, Budgetary Gridlock

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Corporate Tax Audits Down, TRAC Reports

Dec 20, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Syracuse University's TRAC has finally obtained data from the IRS on auditing trends regarding large corporations. Unsurprisingly, the released data shows that the annual audit rate for large corporations has declined this last year. IRS audited 35.3 percent of all corporations with assets of $250 million or more, down from 44.1 percent last year. The projected rate of hours of work spent per audit also fell from 978 hours/audit to 958.

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Supplemental: It's Wednesday, It Must be $110 Billion

Dec 20, 2006 by Dana Chasin

Those trying to follow the bouncing budget ball of the President's expected "emergency" supplemental request for war funding in 2007 watched it bounce yet again yesterday. USA Today reports that when asked if the supplemental will be at least $110 billion, OMB Director Rob Portman said, "Yes." Exactly a week ago, CNN referred to a House report released that day saying "the administration is expected to submit an additional request early next year that will total roughly $100 billion."

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MoJo: Road Privatization Just The Beginning

Dec 19, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Mother Jones has a good article on the privatization fad that's sweeping the nation. A deal in Indiana to sell a toll road to a private company has started up conversations across the country about privatizing other roads. Which public assets are next? And how far will privatization go?

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OMB Reveals Lack of Progress on E-Gov

Dec 19, 2006 by Matt Lewis

GovExec reports today that the Bush administration's push for "E-government" has not yet to show big returns, according a report by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). E-gov is one of the five planks of the President's management agenda. The basic idea is to make government programs and data easier to use by setting up "one-stop shop" websites. A lot of these websites are up and running. Check out Grants.gov for a good example.

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2006 Fiscal Policy Year in Review: Process Failures, Budgetary Gridlock

2006 was a busy year in federal fiscal policy. As in 2005, the regular budget process broke down almost entirely, increasingly urgent issues were neglected, and much time and attention were devoted to consideration of items and priorities seen by many as insignificant and misguided.

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ADDENDUM: 100 Hours Rules Package and Rationales

Dec 15, 2006 by Dana Chasin

TODAY, The office of the House Democratic Leadership released an Honest Leadership/Open Government Rules Package," identifying ethics, lobbying, and key process reform priorities, as well as rationales for their selection.

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Are Unfair Fiscal Policies Hurting Support for War?

Dec 15, 2006 by Matt Lewis

EJ Dionne has an insightful column on a vital question that's been coming up a lot recently: how should we pay for wars? This debate began as a moral one. Dionne thinks that conservatives have paid for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in an unfair, irresponsible way. Through it all, they've supported lower taxes for the wealthy, run high deficits, and cut domestic programs.

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Pelosi Promises Key Budget Process Reforms

Dec 15, 2006 by Dana Chasin

In a press conference yesterday, incoming House Speak Nancy Pelosi re-affirmed her commitment to key budget process reforms long-supported by OMB Watch. Among the "First 100 Hours" rules package will be the following reforms:

EARMARKS: mandatory disclosure of all earmarks and the requirement that members certify that spouses do not directly benefit from the added project
DEFICIT DISCIPLINE: budget Reconciliations will not be considered if they reduce the budget surplus or increase the deficit

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