A lack of enforcement resources, misplaced priorities, and inefficient policies at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) are among the factors perpetuating the federal tax gap, according to a new OMB Watch report released Jan. 15. The report, Bridging the Tax Gap: The Case for Increasing the IRS Budget, illustrates why the IRS has had such a difficult time recovering the more than $300 billion in federal taxes that go unpaid every year and offers some practical solutions to the problem.

On Dec. 31, 2007, President Bush signed the OPEN Government Act (S. 2488), which includes long-sought reforms of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). Though some important provisions were dropped in order to reach bipartisan agreement in Congress, the bill creates incentives to reduce agency backlogs of FOIA requests, increases reporting requirements, and increases the scope of who can make requests and what entities are covered by FOIA.

Despite a record number of consumer product recalls in 2007, Congress adjourned in December without agreeing on legislation to restore the federal government's safety system. The House passed new legislation that would vastly improve the Consumer Product Safety Commission's (CPSC) ability to regulate unsafe products. Weaker Senate legislation was blocked by a lack of bipartisan agreement.

On Dec. 20, 2007, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released the final version of its updated Form 990, the informational return for public charities and other tax-exempt organizations. The new form marked the first revision since 1979 and will be used for the 2008 tax year (returns filed in 2009). The IRS expects to release draft instructions for the 2008 Form 990 later in January. Although the new Form 990 incorporated many suggestions made in public comments on the draft version, the IRS did not make key changes to clarify and simplify reporting of advocacy-related activities.