Government Matters Articles

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.

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Nuclear Insecurity Under DOE

A new Department of Energy (DOE) regulation could threaten safety standards at nuclear weapons facilities nationwide. At the same time, findings by DOE’s watchdog office reveal that nuclear facilities cheated during mock attacks. New Safety Standards

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The Misleading 2005 Budget

It’s hard to know how much emphasis should be put on the president’s 2005 Budget. On one hand, it lays out the president’s main policy objectives – mainly tax cuts for upper income individuals, increases in defense spending, and real cuts for many domestic services. On the other hand, the cost estimates, deficit forecasts, and other analyses are fundamentally misleading.

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Economy and Jobs Watch: GDP, Employment, and the Federal Reserve

Release of two new pieces of economic data showed that the economy, while growing, is still below expectations.

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OMB?s Revised Cost of Medicare Prescription Drug Benefits Raises Questions

During last year’s debate on the Prescription Drug and Medicare Improvement Act of 2003, Congress used an outlay cost estimate of $395 billion for the new program. However, in the president’s 2005 budget, the 10-year outlay cost was estimated to be $534 billion – 35 percent greater than the initial estimate. See Table S-13, Page 387, 2005 budget..

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2005 Federal Budget Continues Fiscal Decline

OMB Watch has released a new report providing an analysis of the president’s budget that describes the fiscal chaos created by the president’s proposals. The report is entitled "2005 Federal Budget Continues Fiscal Decline."

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Avoiding Shame Through Secrecy Puts Lives At Risk

No one wants to be embarrassed, especially the folks working on the taxpayer’s dime under the harsh lights of public scrutiny. But when people in high places in government try to keep embarrassing information out of the public eye, the results can be high-profile scandal. Just ask Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton. Most government efforts to keep unnecessary secrets, however, never reach the front pages of the New York Times but still put lives in danger and waste taxpayer dollars. Two recent news stories make this point. One deals with the question of whether the Sept.

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Pressure Continues to Mount Against OMB's Peer Review Plan

Many recent news stories and editorial pieces from around the country are critical of the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) draft bulletin on peer review, thereby maintaining pressure on the agency to either drastically alter the policy proposal or withdraw it entirely. OMB’s Data Quality Guidelines, the information policies that the peer review bulletin builds upon, received little media criticism or even attention during development. However, the peer review bulletin seems to be garnering much more interest, in part because so many scientists are rejecting this “scientific” policy.

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Definition of Regulated Federal PAC To Be Considered by FEC

The Supreme Court’s Dec. 2003 decision upholding the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) has raised new questions about what kinds of political action committees are subject to federal campaign finance laws. On Jan. 15 the Federal Election Commission (FEC) voted to consider new regulations defining what kinds of political action committees would be subject to contribution and expenditure limits for federal election activity. FEC plans to have a proposed rule published on March 4. There will be a comment period followed by a public hearing in mid-April.

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Is CBS Squelching Free Speech?

CBS refuses to air MoveOn's 30-second issue ad during the Super Bowl, claiming the ad is too "controversial"

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