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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Warp Speed: An Appropriations Update

Dec 9, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Last night, as expected, Congress took a giant step toward finishing appropriations this year, as a House and Senate conference committee agreed to a $446.8 billion discretionary omnibus, which includes six of the seven remaining appropriations bills. In addition, the House this afternoon passed, by a vote of 241 to 181, the tax extenders package as a standalone measure rather than attaching it to an appropriations bill; and it's completely paid for!

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COP Evaluates TARP, Gives it a Passing Grade

Dec 9, 2009 by Sam Rosen-Amy

This being December, with school winding down and entering finals period, children everywhere are beginning the biannual tradition of dreading the arrival of their report card. Surprisingly, the Congressional Oversight Panel (COP), the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) oversight group chaired by Prof. Elizabeth Warren, decided to get in on the action themselves this year with their December report. Titled "Taking Stock," the latest installment of COP's monthly report looks back over the life of the program, and examines whether TARP has been effective or not. Reading the report, it looks like COP reluctantly gives the program a passing grade, but isn't entirely happy with TARP's progress so far.

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Appropriations Moving Quickly

Dec 8, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Today, Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-HI) told reporters that appropriators from both sides of the Capitol would meet later today to hammer out the FY 2010 Transportation-HUD appropriations bill (HR 3288). He also blatantly hinted that the appropriations process would then begin to move fast.

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Open Government Directive Highlights Federal Spending Transparency

Dec 8, 2009 by Craig Jennings

Sean noted earlier today that the Obama Administration released the Open Government Directive this morning. It will have far-reaching implications for government transparency generally, but the directive focuses on federal spending transparency, specifically mentioning Recovery Act transparency as a critical venue for federal government openess.

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House Moves to Give More Access for GAO, SIGTARP, and the Public

While the attention of many transparency advocates has been focused on the first round of recipient reporting under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the Recovery Act), the House has been working on two financial transparency measures dealing with the Federal Reserve and use of the Wall Street bailout funds.

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OMB Watch Unveils Recovery Act Recipient Reports Database

On Dec. 3, OMB Watch released a beta version of a new database on FedSpending.org that gives the public improved access to and searchability of Recovery Act recipient report data. The database allows users to search more than 160,000 reports from recipients of almost $159 billion in Recovery Act contracts, grants, and loans awarded between Feb. 17 and Sept. 30.

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Estate Tax Reform Bill Passes House, Moves to Senate

On Dec. 3, the House passed the Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farmers, and Small Businesses Act of 2009 (H.R. 4154). With time running short, the bill now moves to the Senate, where straight passage of it is uncertain, and passage of any estate tax legislation is anything but assured.

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CBO Monthly Budget Review, November 2009

Dec 7, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

On Friday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its Monthly Budget Review (MBR) for November. With the first two months of the fiscal year behind us, CBO found that the government added $292 billion to the federal debt. Someone let Sen. Evan Bayh (D-IN) and the rest of the recently converted budget hawks in Congress know they have more fuel for their doomsday fire.

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How Big of a Joke is Our Tax System?

Dec 4, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of our current tax code can tell you that it is broken. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), which posted an interesting piece this morning on the need for comprehensive tax reform, our tax system "is inefficient, distorts behavior, stifles economic growth, and raises insufficient revenue to fund current or projected levels of government spending." CRFB included several suggestions for the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board (PERAB), which was due to release a set of publicly generated recommendations on reforming the tax code today, but postponed the release until after the holidays.

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Pomeroy Estate Tax Bill Passes House

Dec 3, 2009 by Gary Therkildsen*

As expected, the House brought up the Pomeroy estate tax bill this afternoon, and the legislation passed by a narrow score of 225 to 200. The bill passed mainly along partisan lines, but 26 Democrats joined the Republican caucus in opposition to the measure. Nine House members did not vote. With passage by the House, the bill now has to make it through the gauntlet that is the Senate.

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