On Jan. 9, 300,000 residents of the Charleston, West Virginia metro area awoke to news that their drinking water had been contaminated when 10,000 gallons of toxic 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) spilled from the storage tanks of Freedom Industries into the Elk River. The toxicity of MCHM, an additive that helps remove impurities from coal, has not been well studied but is known to cause dizziness, vomiting, and rashes, among other things.

In its just-released annual report, Boeing Company reported that it claimed $82 million in federal tax refunds, despite reporting $5.9 billion in U.S. pre-tax profits last year. This represents an effective tax rate of -1.4 percent. Boeing paid just $11 million in state income taxes, an effective state tax rate of just 0.2 percent. The disclosures were made in Boeing’s Form 10-K filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last Friday.

Yesterday evening, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) announced a budget proposal to replace a portion of sequestration cuts. The plan would allow the continuation of cuts to Medicare, increase user fees, and make it more expensive for government employees to save for retirement.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) released a series of discussion drafts proposing elements of tax reform this week, including recommendations for international tax reform.

Baucus clearly states that tax reform overall should be revenue positive for deficit reduction, but the proposal for international taxation is revenue neutral in the long-run—leaving open the possibility of revenue positive reform of the individual tax system.