Over the years, Congress has made a number of exceptions in the tax code, ostensibly to encourage certain behavior by certain individuals or corporations. For example, homeowners can deduct from their federal income taxes the interest paid on their mortgage. Health insurance as a benefit by employers are not taxed as individual income. Had the federal government not allowed the mortgage interest deduction or employer-provide health insurance exemption, the Treasury would have seen about $184 billion (67.0 and 116.8, respectively) in more revenues in 2008 than it did.

The Coalition for an Accountable Recovery (CAR), coordinated by OMB Watch, has been hard at work monitoring the implementation of the Recovery Act. Last Friday, April 17, the coalition submitted comments on the proposed implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). OMB Watch also produced a summary of the guidance for the coalition and released it publicly on April 10.

April 15. Tax Day. Woohoo! (Sometimes it helps to cheer things you might not like.) Although all most many people are not looking forward to today, it has come nonetheless, as it does every year. And while you really can't avoid paying taxes each year, you can do something today to learn more about what those tax dollars are being spent on. Ordinarily this would be a difficult project involving sifting through budget books and deciphering complex spending tables. Luck for you the National Priorities Project (NPP) is on the job.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published a fantastic, in-depth report this month examining the state of disclosure of state level tax expenditures. The report reviews the best (OR, MN, and CT) and worst (AR, MD, and RI) state reports and outlines the best practices for the ideal tax expenditure disclosure. CBPP makes a strong case that increased disclosure of tax expenditure data by states would improve policies and accountability:

If properly designed and implemented, a tax expenditure report makes tax expenditures more transparent by telling policymakers and the public how the state is spending its money and what it is accomplishing through those expenditures. A tax expenditure report also encourages accountability by enabling policymakers and voters to evaluate individual tax expenditures and decide whether to continue them. In addition, a tax expenditure report saves money by enabling policymakers to monitor the costs of tax expenditures and rein in their cost if necessary.