Bush Tax Shifts

Two recent analyses show that the so-called "Bush tax cuts" are as much about shifting the burden away from wealthy Americans as they are about lower taxes for all.

read in full

Tax Returns - Bush Policy Review

The Center on Budget and Pollicy Priorities has just released a comprehensive review of Bush's tax policy.

read in full

OMB Watch Makes Available Detailed Budget Data

Over the past two weeks, OMB Watch has posted detailed breakdowns of budgetary data.

read in full

Bad Budget Rule Changes Could Still be Proposed

The Senate budget being debated this week includes only a two-year cap on appropriations, and continues Senate pay-go rules that apply to both entitlement increases and tax cuts. However, concern over other changes in budget rules remains.

read in full

Senate's Budget

The Senate Budget Committee has reported out a budget which includes includes $80.6 billion in tax cuts which would have reconciliation protection. Of this, around 3 billion is for repeal of the estate tax in 2009. The low cost figure is likely due to the fact that most of the revenue effects would take place outside of the 5 year budget window in 2010. The remaining $77 billion is used for the 3 "middle class" tax cuts - child credit, 10% bracket, and marriage penalty.

read in full

CBO Account-level Data on Government Spending, 2005-2014

The 2005 Budget submitted by the president last week contained only partial information for spending over the next 5 years. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has since developed estimates of costs contained in the president's FY2005 budget covering the period from 2005 to 2014.

read in full

OMB Account-level Data on Government Spending , 2005 Budget

OMB Watch - OMB Account-level Data on Government Spending , 2005 Budget

The 2005 Budget submitted by the president last week only contained partial information for spending over the next 5 years. The spending proposals for specific programs are contained in a 1,000 page Office of Management and Budget (OMB) computer run that was provided to some members of Congress, but was not included in the budget documents originally made available to the public.

read in full

OMB Account-level Data on Government Spending, 2005-2009

The 2005 Budget submitted by the president last week only contained partial information for spending over the next 5 years. The spending proposals for specific programs are contained in a 1,000+ page Office of Management and Budget (OMB) computer run that was provided to some members of Congress, but was not included in the budget documents originally made available to the public.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has obtained these data and shared them with OMB Watch to post on our website.

read in full

A Government Rollback

It is no secret that, after contributing to the deficit by huge tax cuts, a primary focus of this Administration now is decreasing the deficit by cutting spending, while continuing to reduce revenue by way of tax cuts. This will require massive cuts and eliminations of programs and services. It augurs a historically significant rollback in federal spending that if unchecked will fulfill conservative promises to reduce government to the barest of minimums.

read in full

Tax Freedom or Telecommunications Windfall?

There is considerable confusion about the debate on Internet taxes. One issue is whether items sold over the Internet should be taxed. Another issue is whether there should be a tax on access to the Internet; similar to the tax we pay for use of telephones. This second issue – charges a user pays to an Internet Service Provider to connect to the Internet, as well as taxes that would discriminatorily apply only to Internet technology and use – is now being debated in Congress.

read in full

Pages