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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

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...

read in full

more news

Supplemental's Tax Supplement: is More Less Likely?

Apr 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

The Joint Committee on Taxation released its score today of the tax provisions in last week's Senate-passed supplemental appropriations bill. The cost: $12.5 billion over 10 years, more than offset by $13.8 billion in revenue raisers. The president has promised to veto the bill on account of its war-related provisions, but the tax package is independently significant, since it builds on the Senate's small business tax piece of the minimum wage bill. Wage bills were passed earlier this year in both the House and Senate but have not gone to conference.

read in full

Battlelines in the 2008 Economic Policy Primary

Apr 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

This stuff can get a little wonky on the stump. But in the end, should a Democrat be elected president in 2008, it could determine everything from the value of the dollar to whether Americans get universal health care coverage. It's the economic blueprint that Hillary Clinton advisors and former Clinton administration Treasury secretary Robert Rubin and Rubin deputy Roger Altman are developing -- heavy on free trade and balanced budgets, lighter on protecting workers from global competition and deficit-financing domestic social programs.

read in full

Watcher: April 3, 2007

Apr 4, 2007 by Matt Lewis

GSA Administrator Testifies on Misconduct Allegations Congress Approves War Funding; Pressures Bush to Withdraw Troops Budget Resolution Conference Faces Key Choices on PAYGO, Taxes Support Mounts to End IRS Privatization Program

read in full

OMB 2005 Earmarks Database Up and Running

Apr 4, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Without fanfare or forewarning, OMB has, as of this morning, put up its long-promised database on the number and cost of 2005 earmarks, displaying that information by agency and state. The website has very limited sortability functions. But most earmarks entries include a citation back to specific authorizing legislative or report language or, failing that, a citation summary. OMB says there's more to come, including "Browse authorization earmarks" and "Search Website full text" functions.

read in full

Recess Round-Up II: The Status of AMT Reform

Apr 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

Work continues behind the scenes in the House on AMT legislation as Rep. Richard Neal (D-MA) chair of the House Ways and Means Suncommittee on Select Revenue Measures consults with Ways and Means and Budget Committee chairs Charles Rangel (D-NY) and John Spratt (D-SC). Reportedly under consideration: permanent, deficit-neutral AMT reform built around an exclusion for households below a given level, with increased rates making up the lost revenue -- less drastic than full repeal, previously advocated by Neal.

read in full

BudgetBlogging on TPM Cafe

Apr 3, 2007 by Matt Lewis

Check out Dana's latest post on TPM Cafe- The Budget Resolutions: Whose Largest Tax Increase in History?

read in full

Recess Round-Up: Capital Gains and Losses

Apr 3, 2007 by Dana Chasin

First Vote to Extend Capital Gains Rate Fails During its deliberations a couple of weeks ago on the budget resolution, the House Budget Committee "shot down a proposed amendment to extend the 15 percent capital gains tax rate [in] the first vote on the extension of these critical tax cuts," according to the American Shareholders Association blog, Shareholders' Corner. The Committee vote was party-line. An extension of the rate would not have been binding, but the vote offers a glimpse at the rate's future under Democratic leadership. 20/20 foresight?

read in full

Budget Resolution Conference Faces Key Choices on PAYGO, Taxes

In the final weeks of March, the House and Senate adopted budget resolutions for Fiscal Year 2008 by narrow margins and will now turn to the task of finding a compromise resolution in conference committee. The two $2.9 trillion budget plans are broadly similar — both seek to reach a budget surplus by the year 2012, establish reserve funds to extend the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to all eligible children, and embrace pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) principles.

read in full

Support Mounts to End IRS Privatization Program

Key politicians and advocacy groups are lining up against an IRS program to privatize tax collections, as suspect contracts have raised further concerns about the effectiveness and transparency of the program.

read in full

GSA Administrator Testifies on Misconduct Allegations

On March 28, General Services Administration (GSA) chief Lurita Doan testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to account for incidents of alleged mismanagement and politicization of GSA resources. In her testimony, Doan mostly offered unsubstantiated denials and accusations while professing ignorance or a faulty recollection of key actions.

read in full