Congressional Research Service Reports - 834 Matching Results
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- Budget Surpluses: Economic Effects of Debt Repayment, Tax Cuts, or Spending - An Overview
- Updated projections released on July 15 by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) indicate budget surpluses rising from $63 billion (0.9% of GDP) in FY1998 to more than $100 billion (1.3% to 1.5% of GDP) from FY2002 through FY2005 and over $200 billion (1.8% to 1.9%) from FY2006 through FY2008.1
- Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds
- In the first days following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, an unprecedented number of Americans contributed over $2.7 billion in donations to assist in the relief of victims. According to a 2004 Rand Corporation study, that money amounted to only a modest share (7%) of the $38.1 billion “quantified benefits” provided to victims of the terrorist attacks. The Rand Study reported that payments worth $19.6 billion (51%) were disbursed by insurers and $15.8 billion (42%) were disbursed by government programs.
- Energy Tax Policy: An Economic Analysis
- The report provides background on the theory and application of tax policy as it relates to the energy sector, particularly with respect to the theory of market failure in the energy sector and the suggested policy remedies. This background provides a context for understanding how current or proposed energy tax policy may affect other policy objectives or be affected by such objectives.
- Tax Incentives for Alternative Fuel and Advanced Technology Vehicles
- No Description Available.
- Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Premiums: Fact Sheet
- Financing for social security -- Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance -- and the Hospital Insurance part of Medicare is provided primarily by taxes levied on wages and net self-employment income. Financing for the Supplementary Medical Insurance portion of Medicare is provided by premiums from enrollees and payments from the government. This report describes these taxes and premiums.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2000: Analysis of Census Bureau Data
- This report examines recent trends in retirement saving and the policy implications. The aging of the American population and the impending retirement of the "baby boom" will place significant strains over the next several decades on both Social Security and on retirees' own financial resources. With continued increases in average life expectancies, retirees in the 21st century will have to stretch their savings and other assets over longer periods of retirement than were experienced by their parents and grandparents.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions, rules or regulations upon lobbying activities of non-profit organizations.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2007
- This report discusses various issues that impact the retirement income of Americans. About half of all workers in the United States participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan of some kind, a proportion that has remained relatively stable over the past thirty years. Because the majority of assets held in retirement accounts are invested in stocks, trends in stock prices have a significant impact on households' retirement account balances.
- Comparison of Tax Incentives of Domestic Manufacturing: 108th Congress
- The enacted provision of this legislation (H.R. 4520), following the passage of the Senate’s version (then S. 1637) and the House bill (H.R. 4520) followed the Senate version, which allowed a deduction and would cover unincorporated firms as well as corporations. However, the proposal contained the broader definition of manufacturing in the House bill which included oil and gas extraction, utilities, construction, and electricity. This report discusses the provisions in these two versions of the subsidy as well as some of the issues surrounding alternative methods of providing a manufacturing subsidy.
- Comparison of Tax Incentives of Domestic Manufacturing in Current Legislative Proposals
- This report presents two approaches that have quite different implications for tax administration and Compliance. First, additional domestic investment would have both a direct tax benefit effect, and an indirect effect through increasing the ratio of domestic to world production. Secondly, if one considers the other provisions of H.R. 2896 and S. 1637, these provisions provide benefits (in some cases quite large benefits) to investment overseas that could more than offset any domestic incentive.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions or regulations on lobbying activities of non-profit organizations. Public charities, social welfare organizations, religious groups, and other non-profit, tax-exempt organizations are not generally prohibited from engaging in all lobbying or public policy advocacy merely because of their tax-exempt status.
- Taxpayer Protections in the Proposed IRS Restructuring Act: Burden of Proof
- No Description Available.
- Tax Benefits Enacted in the 108th Congress for Military Personnel
- The Military Families Tax Relief Act (MFTRA) contains several provisions that: 1) increase the death gratuity payment and make it fully tax-exempt; 2) provide members of the military with extended time to defer capital gains resulting from the sale of their principal residences; 3) exempt from income benefits received from the Department of Defense Homeowners Assistance Program; 4) expand combat zone filing rules to include military personnel involved in contingency operations; 5) extend the criteria defining membership in veterans’ organizations; 6) create an above-the-line deduction for overnight travel expenses of National Guard and reserve members; and a few other items.
- Lobbying Regulations on Non-Profit Organizations
- This report is intended to provide a brief overview of the various potential restrictions, rules or regulations upon lobbying activities of non-profit organizations.
- Homeland Security: 9/11 Victim Relief Funds
- From Summary: This report also discusses the amounts of money collected and distributed by some of the larger victim relief funds such as the New York State’s World Trade Center Relief Fund Distribution, the Twin Towers Fund (established by Rudolph Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City), the Red Cross Liberty Disaster Relief Fund, September 11th Fund (organized by United Way), Safe Horizons, the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund and several Firefighters and Police Relief Funds.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth: A Summary of Recent Data
- No Description Available.
- Retirement Savings and Household Wealth: Trends from 2001 to 2004
- No Description Available.
- Brief Facts and Statistics
- This report provides facts and statistics about Social Security that are frequently requested by Members of Congress and their staffs. It includes information about Social Security taxes and benefits, the program's impact on its recipients' incomes, federal tax receipts, federal spending and the economy, administrative information, and selected facts about Medicare.
- 527 Organizations: How the Differences in Tax and Election Laws Permit Certain Organizations to Engage in Issue Advocacy without Public Disclosure and Proposals for Change
- This report compares the tax and election laws relating to political organizations and political committees in an attempt to highlight the differences between them, and discusses some of the proposals in the 106th Congress to require additional reporting by organizations engaging in political activities. This report does not address the taxation of other tax-exempt organizations making political expenditures taxable under IRC § 527. The report will be updated as new proposals are reported.
- Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Legislation in the 109th Congress
- This report reviews the status of energy efficiency and renewable energy legislation introduced during the 109th Congress. Action in the second session has focused on appropriations bills; the first session focused on omnibus energy policy bill H.R. 6 and several appropriations bills. this report describes several major pieces of legislation, including the Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the Transportation Equity Act. For each bill listed in this report, a brief description and a summary of action are given, including references to committee hearings and reports. Also, a selected list of hearings on renewable energy is included.
- Fish and Wildlife Service: Compensation to Local Governments
- The Refuge Revenue Sharing Fund (RRSF) was enacted in response to the concern of local governments regarding losses to their tax base due to the presence of federally owned land under the jurisdiction of the Fish and Wildlife Service. This report outlines recent history of RRSF payment levels. It examines the RRSF and describes how the fund differs in its treatment of reserved and acquired lands under the jurisdiction of FWS. The report also examines the Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT) program in detail.
- IRS Reform: Innocent Spouse Rule
- Married couples filing joint tax returns are liable individually and as a couple for all taxes due on the return with a limited exemption for innocent spouses. This report discusses joint and several liability, which has been the subject of much criticism and calls for reform or elimination.
- IRS Reform: Innocent Spouse Rule
- Married couples filing joint tax returns are liable individually and as a couple for all taxes due on the return with a limited exemption for innocent spouses. This report discusses joint and several liability, which has been the subject of much criticism and calls for reform or elimination.
- Minimum Distribution Requirements for Foundations: Proposal to Disallow Administrative Costs
- No Description Available.
- Wagnon v. Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation:
- No Description Available.
- Gramm-Rudman-Hollings: Potential Economic Effects of Meeting Deficit Targets
- This report discusses the reduction of federal budget deficit and the effect on the rise of interest rates.
- Effects of Flat Taxes and Other Proposals on Housing: An Overview
- Studies have estimated that some of these revisions would cause a decline in demand for houses and significant reduction in house prices--perhaps in excess of 15 percent. These studies, however, presumed a fixed supply of housing; even a limited supply response would greatly decrease predicted asset price effects. Supply response is likely to be large in the long run and not insignificant in the short run. Effects on housing demand might also be mitigated by increases in savings rates and lower interest rates. Thus, effects of the flat tax on housing prices are likely to be limited in the short run and very small in the long run. Rental housing demand, on the other hand, would be encouraged with a shift to a consumption tax base.
- The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
- Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
- The Effects of Government Expenditures and Revenues on the Economy and Economic Well-Being: A Cross-National Analysis
- Congress passed and the President signed a reconciliation bill (P.L. 109-171) to reduce mandatory spending by $39 billion between FY2006 and FY2010. A revenue reduction reconciliation bill (H.R. 4297) has not been enacted as of the date of this report. Many argue that tax and spending reductions will stimulate economic growth, whereas many others argue that tax cuts will lead to a larger deficit with adverse economic effects and that spending cuts will reduce critical government services. This report examines the effects of government spending and taxation on economic growth and economic well-being by comparing the United States with 20 other industrial Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries.
- Taxpayer Protections in the IRS Restructuring Bill: Attorneys' Fees and Damages for IRS Abuses
- No Description Available.
- Medicare: History of Insolvency Projections
- This Congressional Research Service Report for Congress details Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) financing as well as history of solvency and current insolvency projections. Updated June 1, 2011.
- Medicare: History of Insolvency Projections
- This Congressional Research Service Report for Congress details Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) financing as well as history of solvency and current insolvency projections.