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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Watcher: August 22, 2006

Aug 23, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Strange Happenings at the IRS Could Affect Enforcement Despite Short-Term Gains, CBO Forecasts Grim Long-Term Fiscal Outlook

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Secret Hold in Senate Blocks Transparency Effort

Aug 22, 2006 by Matthew Madia

While the inner-workings of Congress can often be full of illogical, ironic, and bizarre happenings, the latest behind the scenes buzz on Capitol Hill (and in the blogosphere) certainly takes the cake. OMB Watch has been supporting S. 2590 (see here and here for some of the BudgetBlog's coverage), a bill to create a free, searchable, downloadable database of all federal grants and contracts information. This effort is supported by progressives and conservatives, and nearly everyone in between, and has the support of a varied and eclectic mix of Senators.

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More on Marron

Aug 22, 2006 by Matthew Madia

As reported here, last week’s description of this year’s federal deficit by CBO Acting Director Donald Marron’s as “sustainable” provoked the ire of Kent Conrad (D-ND), the ranking Senate Budget Committee member, and John M. Spratt Jr. (D-SC), the ranking House Budget Committee member. Maron became Acting director when Douglas J. Holtz-Eakin left at the end of 2005, roughly halfway through his term. Amid the stir raised last week by Marron’s comments, the question was raised regarding the tenure of a CBO acting director.

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Senate Budget Democratic Staff Analysis of CBO Report

Aug 22, 2006 by Adam Hughes*

The Senate Budget Committee's Democratic Staff has released an analysis of the Congressional Budget Office's August Budget and Economic Update.

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Despite Short-Term Gains, CBO Forecasts Grim Long-Term Fiscal Outlook

On Aug. 17, The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released the annual summer update to its Budget and Economic Outlook report. In it, CBO lowers its estimate of the Fiscal Year 2006 budget deficit by 30 percent from its March analysis and now projects the year-end deficit at $260 billion. The rosy news, however, did little to assuage analysts' concerns over fiscal challenges looming on the horizon.

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Strange Happenings at the IRS Could Affect Enforcement

This fall, the Internal Revenue Service will likely make two changes to its tax enforcement efforts that defy logical explanation. IRS Commissioner Mark Everson will soon go forward with plans to cut nearly half its staff of estate tax auditors and to create a program that would allow private companies to pursue taxpayers who owe back taxes.

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Everson Presses Forward With Privatization

Aug 22, 2006 by Matt Lewis

IRS Commissioner Mark Everson is moving forward with his plan to privatize debt collection despite Congressional opposition. BNA (sub. req'd) reports that Everson rejected a request from Rep. Steve Rothman (D-NJ) to cancel the privatization project that's slated to begin in late August or early September. See here for more information about the program. In his response to Rothman, Everson admitted that the program won't be cost-efficient, but contended that Congress and the President have left him no other options.

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Backdoor Medicaid Cuts Possible

Aug 21, 2006 by Matt Lewis

The Bush administration is trying to take health insurance away from poor people again, this time by creating regulations that would force states to lower taxes on health care providers. The taxes help states pay for health care services covered under Medicaid, and result in higher matching grants from the federal government. The states effectively offset the cost of the tax with higher reimbursement rates for the taxed health care providers, which are made possible by the federal matching grants. The move is opposed by all the relavant stakeholders, including:

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OMB Watch in TomPaine.Com

Aug 21, 2006 by Matt Lewis

Our very own Adam Hughes and Craig Jennings have an article on Congress's deficit addiction in today's TomPaine.com. Check it out!

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CBO's Marron says deficit "sustainable," sparks spat with Spratt & Conrad

Aug 18, 2006 by Matthew Madia

This week, CBO released its initially cheery-sounding report that the federal deficit for 2006 would shrink to $260 billion, from $318 billion last year, the lowest level since 2001. Of course, the gloomier long-term fact is that extending President Bush’s tax cuts beyond 2010 and accounting for war and other hidden costs would add $1.75 trillion in debt over the next 10 years and widen annual deficits by about $250 billion from 2011 through 2016.

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