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

DHS Fails in Contracting Oversight Efforts

Sep 17, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

The Washington Post has an article this morning that details severe contracting problems at the Department of Homeland Security. The Post describes the agency's efforts to oversee $15 billion in contracts over the last six years as having "failed."

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We Should Import More from Sweden Than Just Furniture

Sep 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Swedes' public finance policies could do wonders for your home, life Via TaxProf Blog, we read a commentary in TaxAnalysts by tax guru David Cay Johnston pointing out a few facts the revenue haters would prefer be kept under wraps.

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Congress Getting Around to Taxes?

Sep 16, 2008 by Craig Jennings

The House and Senate are working each working a number of pieces of tax legislation. Below is a brief summary of which bills might contain which provisions in each house. This is all subject to change by the hour, but hopefully it'll disambiguate what's up for consideration. House Action:

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Dept. of Interior: Worst Misconduct Ever!

Sep 16, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

There has been some pretty eye opening stuff going on over at the Department of the Interior's Mineral Management Service (MMS). The Department of the Interior Inspector General released the results of three separate investigations into allegations of misconduct among dozens of employees and managers at the MMS. And the pretty shocking results would even make Lurita Doan blush (or maybe take out her pen and pad and take notes?). The IG report described the MMS as having a "culture of ethical failure" and details some ridiculously arrogant and decrepit behavior.

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Shocking Developments at the IRS

Sep 15, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

I came across more good news from the IRS today (well, Friday actually) and I'm not really sure what to do with myself. BNA reported late on Friday afternoon that Lisa McCaughey, a senior tax analyst with the Small Business/Self-Employed Division reported that the IRS is reducing the staggering number of audits they conduct each year of taxpayers who claim the earned income tax credit (EITC). Woohoo!

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IRS Decides to Abandon Contract

Sep 12, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Great news reported today by Joe Davidson at the Washington Post (Joe has taken over the Federal Diary column from Stephen Barr, who retired earlier this year). Davidson reports that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has decided to discontinue contracting out the management of tax return files at seven regional IRS centers. More details from the Federal Diary column: For most of the past two years, that work has been done by IAP Worldwide Services.

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Why Pay Full Price

Sep 11, 2008 by Adam Hughes*

There have been lots of stories today I was thinking about throwing up on the blog (DCAA shenangians, Interior Department MMS shenangians), but I "http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122109613823821913.html">settled on an article you might have overlooked in the Wall Street Journal about the continuing investigations Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) and the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI) have been conducting on offshore tax evasion. I've posted a few times (see href="/article/blogs/entry/5326/49" target="_blank">here and here too) over the last few

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Baucus and Grassley Unveil $40 Billion Energy Tax Plan

Sep 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Bill to promote alternative fuels would be offset by ending some tax breaks for oil and gas industry From CQ Politics:

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The Declining Return on Education

Sep 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Via Shaw Fremstad at Inclusionist, we read in the Wall Street Journal that even the highly educated have seen their real earnings decrease since 2000. The inflation-adjusted median salary for people with professional degrees [such as doctors and lawyers] was $89,602 in 2007, up about 3% from 2000, when the median salary was $87,158, according to the Census.

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Approps Update: Senate Panel Advances Defense Bill

Sep 11, 2008 by Craig Jennings

Yesterday (Wed.), the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee approved the $487.7 billion FY 2009 Defense Appropriations bill. The defense spending bill is passed every year, despite Congress's chronic inability to approve the other 11 individual annual spending bills, so it's no surprise to see this one advance. With less than three weeks remaining in the fiscal year, here's how close Congress is to passing the legislation necessary to keep the federal government operating past Sept. 30.

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