Ukraine aid passes Senate. The $40 billion emergency aid package cleared the Senate just in time. The Pentagon had nearly exhausted its funding to send weapons to Ukraine. Eleven Republicans opposed the measure. The House passed the bill last week. It includes no offsets.
Schumer and Manchin talking spending and taxes…again. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin reportedly are talking again about some kind of social spending, climate, and tax bill. The two have a good working relationship but only have a few weeks left before an informal deadline of Memorial Day. And while Manchin supports raising tax rates on corporations and high-income households, fellow Democratic senator Kyrsten Sinema does not. And Schumer needs support of both in a 50/50 Senate.
GAO: A handful of IRS employees improperly disclosed individual taxpayer information. The Government Accountability Office reports the IRS identified about 340 cases of unauthorized access of individual income tax returns by IRS employees and about 200 cases of unauthorized disclosure between 2012 and 2021. Most of the employees involved were non-supervisory. Violators were fired, suspended, or resigned.
Next week on the Hill. The Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing Wednesday on supply chain resiliency, examining ways to alleviate backlogs and strengthen long-term security.
Delaware lawmakers seek to ban school boards from raising taxes after property reassessments. The House Education Committee unanimously passed a bill to ban school boards from unilaterally raising property taxes following court-ordered reassessments. Delaware law currently allows the practice without a vote. Local schools get almost one-third of the revenue from property taxes. The last assessment in Delaware’s three counties took place in 1987.
New Mexico families will start receiving their state income tax rebates. This week, hundreds of thousands of residents may begin receiving $250 direct deposit payments. A month ago lawmakers approved the payments, aimed at helping New Mexicans pay for the higher costs of living. Paper checks will be mailed in the coming days.
Oil industry continues to push back on UK windfall tax. Oil and gas producers say they are already paying about £7.8 billion more tax as a result of price increases, up from £3.1 billion last year. They warn sudden tax increases could lead to decreased investment in energy production.
A tax collector heads to federal prison for filing false personal tax returns. The 70-year-old elected official, Roseanne Czwalina, in Ridley Township, Pennsylvania, filed false personal tax returns for five years, understating her income by over $400,000. She failed to report the fees she received for services she provided to the township. She was sentenced to one year in federal prison and owes $112,486 in restitution to the IRS.
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