Congress agreed over the weekend to cut the IRS's base budget by a reported $1 billion. This would be a serious policy mistake at a time when the IRS remains severely depleted. Honest taxpayers deserve better.

New Paper: CBO finds $1 invested in federal non-defense R & D yields $11.50 over 30 yrs, i.e. wow Meanwhile, the Trump Admin proposes a 21% cut in non-defense R & D funding– while targeting top universities– posing a threat to future living standards www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

Alarming news this morning that Social Security head Frank Bisignano has been named “CEO” of IRS, a move that raises 3 major concerns: www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

The Administration acknowledged that it will stop the survey that measures food insecurity, just as tariffs push up food prices and the deep cuts to food assistance enacted in July start to take effect. Congress must intervene to save these vital data. www.wsj.com/economy/trum...

Via @jeffstein.bsky.social @washingtonpost.com anti-tax interests want the Trump IRS to give an unlawful tax cut to wealthy people by executive fiat. Just the tip of one of two big icebergs of tax cuts for special interests coming for the tax system. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

This suggests that Republicans may add yet another deeply harmful health care cut to the Senate bill – a cut that would take health coverage away from even more people, shift massive, unaffordable costs to states, & could even lead some states to end their #Medicaid expansion.

Meanwhile, House Republicans are doing nothing about the Trump tariffs & going out of their way to deny any of their Child Tax Credit increase to 17 million kids, many of whose parents likely shop at Walmart- families they voted to help last year, but not now when it counts- why?

The IRS has the fewest auditors who have expertise to audit sophisticated tax returns — since the 1950s

For those who care about the Child Tax Credit - this from my colleague Kris Cox is a must read:

The House Ways and Means tax bill released today is skewed in favor of rich people, is even more costly than the original 2017 law, and fails to deliver for working-class families and small businesses. A thread 🧵

in the gop tax plan, the top 0.1% gets more than all the households in the bottom half of america combined

To get an idea of Republican tax bill on the Child Tax Credit: Picture a couple with 2 kids living in a fancy suburb, making $400k. A thousand $ more for them. For the kids of the people who cut their grass, deliver their packages, watch their kids, clean their house: Nothing

🚨 🚨 🚨 The emerging House R tax bill appears highly skewed to the wealthy, w/ several regressive expansions of 2017 tax cuts & full of costly timing gimmicks, while, despite the working-class rhetoric, failing to deliver for millions of working class families

House Republican plan would harm 4.5 million U.S. citizen children by stripping away their access to the Child Tax Credit if either of their parents file taxes w/o an SSN: cmsny.org/publications...

See our state-by-state data on where these kids live: www.cbpp.org/blog/policym...

#CTC changes in the House tax bill leave behind the 17M children who currently get less than the full $2k credit. The bill increases the max to $2,500 for 4 yrs (then drops back to $2k), which gives these 17M a $0 increase but showers higher-income families w/ 2 kids w/ an extra $1,000.

TL;DR: Trump's own pick to run Social Security thinks having COBOL code underlying SSA's systems is just fine. But DOGE is "risking benefits and systems collapse" to quickly rip it all out--for no apparent reason. www.wired.com/story/doge-r...

DOGE plans to move Social Security systems "entirely off [COBOL] in a matter of months, potentially putting the integrity of the system—and the benefits on which 10s of Ms of Americans rely—at risk." Is this needed? Let's hear what Trump's nom to head SSA just said: www.wired.com/story/doge-r...

This new policy will drive 3M+ more people into Social Security offices. Another policy this week will add 4M+. 7M more Social Security appts + cutting 7K SSA staff = longer waits for everyone popular.info/p/exclusive-...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) is reportedly going to stop allowing people without Social Security numbers (SSNs) to serve as "representative payees" for beneficiaries who need help managing their benefits. This risks benefit interruption for thousands. www.govexec.com/management/2...

W/ House Rs meeting on tax bill: we’re likely to hear tips, tips, tips. Don’t be distracted & don’t be fooled This is bad policy that Rs seem determined to enact but doesn’t move the needle for working-class people & doesn’t change what Rs are doing: massive tax cuts for the rich

CMS's proposed #ACA marketplace rule would mean fewer people with health coverage, more red tape, higher costs, less time to enroll, plus decreased access for certain groups. People currently struggling to afford the basics would once again lose out. Some highlights (lowlights?) - a 🧵:

With House Republicans meeting to flesh out their tax bill, it feels like an important time for a thread on what a better tax bill would look like.

Yesterday, the Social Security Administration reportedly terminated a long-standing nationwide policy under which parents can apply for a Social Security number (SSN) for their newborns in the hospital--in Maine, and Maine alone. Today, SSA reversed it. 🧵 www.cbpp.org/blog/ssa-rev...

House Ways and Means Republicans are meeting Monday to begin to flesh out their tax bill. Here’s a thread on why I think they’re on the wrong path

Clarifying contrast for the “Party of the Working-Class” 1) Sen Thune: make inheritances from Billionaires completely TAX-FREEE 2) Steve Bannon: "A lot of MAGAs on Medicaid. If you don't think so, you're dead wrong ... You can't just take a meat axe to it." (h/t @jsteinwapo)

Team, we’re losing the plot. Their plan to cut people’s health care & food assistance is about paying for tax cuts for rich, not deficit reduction:

Crazy coincidence

Question for Republicans and all of us: what is the “fair share” cut in food assistance for people who receive $6.20 per person per day in #SNAP benefits while giving a tax cut of some $6 million to the 1 in 1,000 wealthiest estates? www.politico.com/newsletters/...

👀 Something for people who care about Social Security to watch for: the Trump Admin is looking to drastically reduce federal building space. Social Security Administration (SSA) offices across the nation may be affected, harming retirees, people w/ disabilities & survivors. Details ⬇️

Party of the Working -Class? Here's what the distribution of the underlying tax cut extension that the House and Senate Republicans look like they are facilitating and assuming respectively in their budget resolutions. Note triple the % income gain at top vs bottom 60% --

Hot off the presses, @budgetlab.bsky.social just published a preliminary estimate of the economic & fiscal effects of the Trump Admin's 25/25/10 Mexico/Canada/China tariff proposal, with a special lower 10% rate on Canadian crude oil imports. Some high-level conclusions follow... 1/4

i think it is important to say that the open and explicit racism of the president and the vice president isn’t just uncouth or “controversial” but a direct attack on tens of millions of americans and a dereliction of their duty to represent the entire country

It's something to see how the Trump Admin/DOGE types come in talking about getting rid of regulations (that apply to rich people) and right away are proposing more red tape for low-income people:

A timely reminder that nearly 2 in 3 Medicaid enrollees work in paid jobs, contrary to assumptions underlying work requirement proposals. Most of the rest have a disability, are caring for family members, or are attending school. www.cbpp.org/research/hea...

Reports are emerging that Republican lawmakers continue to consider taking #Medicaid away from people who don’t meet unnecessary work requirements. www.politico.com/live-updates...

Senator Hawley gave an important speech this week with an urgent takeaway: “for every Republican who has hailed the new working-class coalition that President Trump has assembled, this is the time to deliver.” While the design needs improvement, his #ChildTaxCredit focus is spot on.

The Trump 2017 tax law was costly. Rs made most provisions temporary, ie expire in 25, to keep the official cost down. Full permanence would have been much more expensive, adding $Ts to the deficit. Now, Senator Crapo is trying to wave away the huge cost of extension: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vo0...

NEW Paper: The deep corporate tax rate cut was the centerpiece of the 2017 Trump tax law. Like the overall law, it was skewed in favor of wealthy people, very expensive, and failed to deliver on its promises. It needs to be revisited  www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

Breaking: The new bipartisan appropriations package includes funding for the IRS, & passes a minimal test for FY24 base funding.  Negotiators rightly decided on the Senate bipartisan version – a less than ideal “freeze”– but far better than the House cut www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

A major part of the tax policy course correction President Biden is proposing is put priority - not on cutting corporate taxes - but on expanding the Child Tax Credit and EITC for childless adults

President Biden highlighted the failure of trickle-down economics for decades and recognized the the 2017 Trump tax law failed to trickle-down. The corporate tax rate cut is Exhibit A: the benefits went to executives, not workers:

Let the debate begin – the State of the Union address and Biden budget will open the critical 2025 tax debate.  Here’s our opening 1-2-3 on the 2017 Trump tax cut. Thread www.cbpp.org/research/fed...

My colleague @_George_Fenton published a blog today on the important jobs the parents of the 16 million children who will be helped by the bipartisan #ChildTaxCredit expansion do for relatively low wages www.cbpp.org/blog/biparti...