Taxes & Budget
Coverage of the national budget and your taxes.
By Associated Press
Online retail giant Amazon raked in $11.6 billion in profit last year but is asking for $4.5 million from Delaware taxpayers.
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President Trump’s signature tax overhaul delivered savings to Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and his new husband compared with what they would have paid under previous rates, a review of the couple’s 2018 return shows.
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The Trump administration has notified Congress that it will tap $105 million from a reserve fund designed to combat infectious diseases in response to the coronavirus that has sickened thousands in China and put the rest of the globe on high alert.
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House Democrats announced their framework for a $760 billion infrastructure plan Wednesday morning, but they didn’t explain how they plan to pay for it.
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The federal deficit will reach $1 trillion this year and remain above that level for the rest of the decade, the government’s official scorekeeper said Tuesday, highlighting an ever worsening fiscal picture.
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By Sarah Skidmore Sell - Associated Press
It’s that time again. The IRS began accepting and processing tax returns for individuals on Monday.
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The Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration can move ahead with its “public charge” regulation that could block immigrants who wind up on the public dole from earning a pathway to citizenship.
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The Trump administration threatened Friday to cut off certain federal funds to California over its requirement that medical insurers cover elective abortions, hours before President Trump made history by speaking at the March for Life.
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President Trump said on Thursday that he’ll “save” Social Security, a day after he said he is open to reviewing entitlement spending in a second term.
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Presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg said Democrats should get “a lot more comfortable” owning the issue of deficits, as he looks to draw a contrast with his more liberal rivals in the closing stretch ahead of Iowa.
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President Trump is crafting a second-term agenda that is a defiantly bigger version of his first term, outlining in the midst of his impeachment trial election-year plans for deeper tax cuts for the middle class and an expansion of the travel ban that embroiled the administration in a lengthy court battle.
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A group of more than two dozen House lawmakers are “strongly” urging Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper to reconsider directing over $7 billion of Pentagon funds toward construction of the southern border wall.
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President Trump and Chinese negotiators signed a hard-fought trade agreement on Wednesday that provides big wins for U.S. farmers and financial-services firms, a historic breakthrough in the lopsided business dealings between the world’s two biggest economies that Mr. Trump achieved through his unconventional use of tariffs.
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Democratic presidential hopeful and billionaire Michael R. Bloomberg on Tuesday advocated for increasing taxes on the wealthy, but said the “wealth tax” proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts isn’t the way to go.
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A federal judge Tuesday put on hold a lawsuit by House Democrats to obtain President Trump’s tax returns, saying he would wait until an appeals court resolves a separate legal dispute relating to Congressional subpoenas.
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Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer said Monday he’s worried the “phase-one” trade deal President Trump struck with China does little to correct Beijing’s “rapacious trade behaviors” and may not compensate farmers for their losses amid the trade war.
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By Josh Boak - Associated Press
U.S. employers downshifted their hiring in December, adding 145,000 jobs as consumer spending appeared to aid gains in the retail and hospitality sectors.
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By Josh Boak - Associated Press
U.S. companies added 202,000 jobs in December, led by robust hiring in construction, trade, transportation and utilities, according to a private survey.
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A watchdog group named Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Tuesday its “Porker of the Year” for 2019, citing her sponsorship of the costly “Green New Deal” proposal.
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The groans must have been audible at the Census Bureau two years ago when then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, testifying to Congress, told Americans they could skip any questions they don’t like.
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Stocks hit more record highs Monday on the second anniversary of President Trump signing historic tax cuts into law, as the White House and its allies said the strong economy is proof that the tax cuts have worked.
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President Trump signed into law Friday night a $1.4 trillion spending package that avoids a government shutdown, funds all federal agencies through September, provides up to 12 weeks of paid family leave for most federal employees and spends $1.375 billion on his border wall.
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The Senate approved a pair of spending packages Thursday, authorizing approximately $1.4 trillion in spending and avoiding a government shutdown that loomed at Friday’s end.
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House Democrats and Republicans linked arms and overwhelmingly approved President Trump’s rewrite of the North American trade deal Thursday, less than 24 hours after members evoked Pearl Harbor and Pontius Pilate in a nasty impeachment debate on the same floor.
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Investors shrugged off President Trump’s impeachment on Thursday, sending all three major stock markets to intra-day trading record highs.
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The Pentagon got some needed budget clarity as the House approved two massive spending bills that included $738 billion this fiscal year for defense and the Senate easily approved a compromise defense policy bill that President Trump says he is eager to sign.
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House and Senate negotiators have rejected President Trump’s demand for $5 billion to spend on his border wall next year, instead crafting a final compromise that offers him the same $1.375 billion they included in the spending bill.
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President Trump hit a new approval rating high in the Quinnipiac University Poll, one of the more influential surveys, as Democrats’ impeachment push has failed to swing Americans against him.
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The IRS is poised to implement guidelines that will allow a wide array of nonprofits to withhold the identities of their largest donors.
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The Supreme Court announced Friday it will hear a case seeking President Trump and his family’s financial documents brought by the New York City District Attorney Cyrus Vance.
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The massive 2020 defense policy bill and military budget has made its way through the House and will now be considered by the Senate with a vote likely next week.
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President Trump on Wednesday signaled he will sign the massive defense policy bill lawmakers unveiled this week, a bipartisan measure that authorizes a major spending boost to the Pentagon and endorses his proposed new Space Force.
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Lawmakers on Tuesday unveiled a highly anticipated bipartisan compromise of the massive $738 billion 2020 defense authorization bill, breaking a legislative logjam and dealing with dozens of knotty security and policy decisions on the very same day House Democrats were bringing two articles of impeachment against President Trump.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday he expected to send a long-stalled defense bill to the White House soon.
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Following a bipartisan breakthrough, lawmakers are on track to vote on the massive 2020 defense policy bill as early as Wednesday after months of contentious negotiations, giving President Trump a partial win in moving his prized military Space Force closer to reality.
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By Adam Beam - Associated Press
California is bracing for a much smaller budget surplus next year because of its ongoing feud with the Trump administration about a tax involving Medicaid, the state’s chief budget writer said Monday.
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With fewer than two weeks remaining until another government shutdown, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell sounded optimistic on Monday about recent progress made by congressional appropriators in private.
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President Trump is riding one of the strongest economies in modern U.S. history, even as House Democrats move their impeachment effort into high gear this week.
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By Christopher Rugaber - Associated Press
Hiring in the United States jumped last month to its highest level since January as U.S. employers shrugged off global trade conflicts and added 266,000 jobs.
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Thursday it is “shameful” for Republicans to issue work requirements for food stamp recipients while they also support tax cuts for “the rich.”
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Congressional negotiators face a make-or-break weekend to nail down a major defense policy and spending bill by Monday’s deadline to vote before the looming holiday recess.
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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley said Monday Congress won’t be able to ratify President Trump’s rewrite of the North American trade deal this year unless House Democrats agree to act on it this week.
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The ever-expanding national debt and annual federal deficits approaching $1 trillion are at the bottom of voters’ priority lists heading into 2020 amid calls for free programs from Democratic candidates.
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Sen. Rand Paul wants American taxpayers to know exactly how their money is being spent by the federal government: on self-cleaning toilets that cost over $500,000 to maintain, and studies on nicotine-addicted Zebrafish.
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Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Monday released a plan aimed at bolstering health care and retirement savings options for seniors that includes changes to Social Security taxes for high-income earners and a new “public” 401(k) option.
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President Trump does not have to release his tax returns to get on California’s 2020 primary ballot, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled Thursday.
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President Trump signed legislation Thursday to fund the government for another month, after Congress passed the stopgap spending resolution.
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Efforts to postpone a government shutdown have stalled in the Senate, where an anticipated vote on a stopgap spending resolution was not held Wednesday.
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Congress on Tuesday moved closer to avoiding a government shutdown for Thanksgiving but punting the deadline to just before Christmas.
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Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg on Monday filled in more details on his plan to lower college costs and boost workforce development opportunities, which includes making public college tuition-free for all families earning up to $100,000.
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Sen. Bernard Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Thursday are introducing legislation that calls for a guaranteed right to housing and would put up to $180 billion over 10 years toward retrofitting and cutting carbon emissions in federal public housing.
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House Democrats can demand eight years of President Trump’s tax returns, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday in a decision that sets up a fierce legal battle before the U.S. Supreme Court.
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An agreement on stopgap spending legislation to keep the government running until Dec. 20 is far from guaranteed.
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By Andrew Taylor - Associated Press
A top House lawmaker announced Tuesday that Congress will pass a governmentwide temporary spending bill to keep the government running through Dec. 20, forestalling a government shutdown as the House turns its focus to impeachment hearings.
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