Don't Mess With Taxes

OK, maybe not topping. But there is quite a bit of tax news and I like alliteration, so ...

In today's New York Times, David Cay Johnston takes a look at recently released IRS data. He reports that, "adjusting for inflation, 95 percent of Americans reported smaller incomes to the tax man in 2005 than in 2000."

But even with less income, writes Johnston, "all Americans had more in their pockets as a result of the Bush tax cuts, although the increases ranged from barely perceptible for the bottom half of American earners to thousands of dollars a month for those at the top … ."

For more on how the numbers shake out, read the full story here.

Deficit down: Of course, less taxes means the government has to operate in the red. And there's news on that front, too.

The White House announced yesterday that the federal budget deficit fell to $162.8 billion, a five-year low, in the budget year that ended Sept. 30.

Administration officials said the government was on track to eliminate the deficit by 2012.

Democrats, however, noted that despite the current fiscal figures, Dubya's economic policies wiped out the budget surpluses banked during the Clinton years.

You can get a look at the U.S. budget balance history from 1987 through 2007 in this Reuters story.

The prez, of course, was pumped by the numbers. In fact, he had just touted his hallmark tax cuts in a Wall Street Journal interview. And that brings us to our final bit of top tax news.

In the WSJ's Washington Wire blog, Greg Hitt reports that during the interview, Dubya offered some political advice for the folks who want his office: Stick to the tax cut message.