Office of Management and Budget

With all the talk about taxes and whether we should lower them, you'd think that the citizens and corporations of the United States face steep tax rates. You'd be wrong, though. When it comes to taxes, things are not as they appear.

The Treasury has to find buyers for trillions of dollars in new bonds needed to fund the federal deficit. It hopes average citizens will pony up and invest in some $337 billion worth. But for a host of reasons, "safe" T-bonds might not be a winning investment for you.

Like all budgets, the federal government's spending plan is all about revenues and expenditures. Unfortunately, Uncle Sam is very good at grossly overestimating tax receipts and grossly underestimating spending. It's enough to make you wonder if any of it is real.

Under a policy of "preemption," the Bush administration sharply curtailed the rights of states to enforce stricter laws involving environment, health, mortgages, public safety and other issues. President Obama made clear this week he intends to reverse that policy, ordering federal agency heads to...

Let's just say it could have been worse. The White House's budget arm, the Office of Management and Budget, increased its budget deficit forecast for the current year (fiscal 2009) by $90 billion, to $1.84 trillion. Next year's estimate was also raised, to $1.26 trillion. The new totals bring...

Most investors know that government budgets are a function of revenue (mostly taxes) and outlays (spending). But those inside the beltway know that there is more to the U.S. federal budget. In addition to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and executive Branch Office of Management and Budget...