“I would say remember 2008, 2009. Remember the fact that the reason why we’re living with very high unemployment, with millions of Americans having lost their homes, terrible damage to the basic economic security of Americans is because of the failures that caused this crisis in the financial system and if you want to go back to that and you want to choose that future, then you should be in favor of repeal of the law.

“There is no credible evidence to support the argument that these reforms are having a material negative effect on the ability of the economy to recover and grow. In fact, the evidence is overwhelmingly the opposite because even though, again, these are tough reforms where they have to be tough, if you look at almost any measure except for the pockets I referred to in housing finance and some small businesses, which are not about reform, the broad measures of the ability of the system to help recovery look pretty good and that would not be true if we had not moved so quickly to not just restructure the system but make sure it runs with more capital.”

Watch a video of Secretary Geithner’s remarks and his Q&A.

Erika Gudmundson is New Media Specialist at the Department of the Treasury.

Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.  Meanwhile, over the last 30 years, the tax rates for middle class families have barely budged. That doesn’t reflect our values of fairness as a nation -- and that’s why the President has proposed the Buffett Rule.

The President believes we should build an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules. It’s simple: if you make more than $1 million a year, you should pay at least the same percentage of your income in taxes as middle class families do. On the other hand, if you make under $250,000 a year – like 98 percent of American families do – your taxes shouldn’t go up.  

Today the White House released a report, The Buffett Rule: A Basic Principle of Tax Fairness.  This report highlights the need for Congress to take action and pass the Buffett Rule.  Here are some of the highlights from the report:

• The average tax rate paid by the very highest-income Americans has fallen to nearly the lowest rate in over 50 years. The wealthiest 1-in-1,000 taxpayers pay barely a quarter of their income in Federal income and payroll taxes today—half of what they would have contributed in 1960. And, the top 400 richest Americans—all making over $110 million—paid only 18 percent of their income in income taxes in 2008.
• Average tax rates for the highest income Americans have plummeted even as their incomes have skyrocketed. Since 1979 the average after-tax income of the very wealthiest Americans – the top 1 percent – has risen nearly four-fold. Over the same period, the middle sixty percent of Americans saw their incomes rise just 40 percent. The typical CEO who used to earn about 30 times more than his or her worker now earns 110 times more.
• Some of the richest Americans pay extraordinarily low tax rates—as they hire lawyers and accountants to take particular advantage of loopholes and tax expenditures. The average tax rate masks the fact that some high-income Americans pay near their statutory tax rate, while others take advantage of tax expenditures and loopholes to pay extraordinarily low rates—and it is these high-income taxpayers that the Buffett rule is meant to address .
  • Of millionaires in 2009, a full 22,000 households making more than $1 million annually paid less than 15 percent of their income in income taxes — and 1,470 managed to paid no federal income taxes on their million-plus-dollar incomes, according to IRS data.
  • Of the 400 highest income Americans, one out of every three in this group of the most financially fortunate Americans paid less than 15 percent of their income in income taxes in 2008.
• Many high-income Americans are paying less in taxes than middle class Americans in taxes. Nearly one-quarter of all millionaires (about 55,000 taxpayers) face a tax rate that is lower than more than millions of middle-income taxpayers. This is fundamentally unfair.

As the President has said, we don’t begrudge success in America; we aspire to it. But we believe making our system fair is key to ensuring the economic security of the middle class. 

Next week, Congress will have the opportunity to vote on the Buffett Rule.  We’ll see where every member of Congress stands.  They can either protect tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, or they can stand with middle class families across the nation.  We will continue to urge Congress to join us in ensuring that the middle class gets a fair shake.   

Amy Brundage is the Deputy Press Secretary for the Economy.

Two important features are the recently released mobile apps IRS2Go in English and Spanish and EyeNote. 

With IRS2Go, users have access to IRS news and videos on their mobile devices as soon as the information is publicly available. Customers can also request transcripts of their tax return and even check the status of a tax refund on the go. 

EyeNote, developed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, is a free mobile app to identify denominations of US currency notes as an aid for the blind or visually impaired. This app can work without network connectivity or equipment modification, and the spoken output can be English or Spanish.

In addition to releasing mobile apps and as part of the Digital Government Strategy that the President announced a year ago today, Treasury has published data in formats that facilitate additional use by entrepreneurs, developers, and researchers. We anticipate that the release of this data will stimulate the development of innovative products and services. This information is available for public use on Data.gov and also on our new developer page. 

Here is a list of data feeds and services or APIs (Application Programming Interface) that are currently available:

• Annual Currency Production by denomination published by Bureau of Engraving and Printing
• County-to-County Population Inflow Migration published by Internal Revenue Service
• County-to-County Population Outflow Migration published by Internal Revenue Service
• List of Specially Designated Nationals published by Office of Foreign Assets Control.
• Daily Yield Curve for Treasury bills and bonds
• US Debt Auction Schedule published by Fiscal Services.​

***

May 17, 2013

The Honorable John A. Boehner 

Speaker 

U.S. House of Representatives 

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Mr. Speaker:

As provided by Public Law 113-3, the statutory debt limit was suspended by Congress through May 18, 2013. Because Congress has not yet acted to approve normal borrowing authority after May 18, the Treasury Department will begin implementing the standard set of extraordinary measures that enable us, on a temporary basis, to protect the full faith and credit of the United States by continuing to pay the nation's bills. These measures are the same ones that have been used in previous debt limit impasses, and are described in detail in an appendix to this letter.

The effective duration of the extraordinary measures is subject to considerable uncertainty due to a variety of factors, including the unpredictability of tax receipts, changes in expenditure flows under the sequester, and the normal challenges of forecasting the payments and receipts of the U.S. government months into the future. An additional source of uncertainty has been the amount and timing of certain payments to the Treasury by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in light of their improving financial conditions. In the case of Fannie Mae, we learned last week that Treasury will receive a payment of approximately $60 billion on June 28, 2013.

Given the uncertainty described above, at this time, Treasury is not able to provide a specific estimate of how long the extraordinary measures will last. However, in view of the forthcoming Fannie Mae payment and the trend in other payment flows, it is now clear that the measures will not be exhausted until after Labor Day. Nevertheless, Congress should act sooner rather than later to protect America's good credit and avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of failing to act until it is too late.

It is important to note that increasing the debt limit does not increase spending or authorize new spending; rather, it simply permits the United States to continue to honor pre-existing commitments to our citizens, businesses, and investors here and around the world. These commitments were already approved by Congress, and honoring them is not optional. The global economic leadership position enjoyed by the United States rests on the confidence of Americans and people around the world that we are a nation that keeps its promises and pays all of its bills, in full and on time. Breaching that trust would do irreparable harm to the economy and the American public.

In this context, I want to reiterate the Administration's view, expressed in a Statement of Administration Position on May 7, 2013, regarding the so-called prioritization bill passed by the House of Representatives last week. This legislation is unwise, unworkable, unacceptably risky, and would harm the full faith and credit of the nation. The President has indicated he would veto the legislation if it were to reach his desk.

Protecting the full faith and credit of the United States is the responsibility of Congress because only Congress can extend the nation's borrowing authority. No Congress in our history has failed to meet that responsibility. It must be understood that the creditworthiness of the United States is an essential underpinning of our strength as a nation; it is not a bargaining chip to be used for partisan political ends. I want to reemphasize what the President has said repeatedly regarding any threats to cause default in order to extract policy concessions from the Administration: We will not negotiate over the debt limit. The creditworthiness of the United States is non-negotiable. The question of whether the country must pay obligations it has already incurred is not open to debate. Congress has no choice but to protect our creditworthiness and our economy.

The President has proposed detailed plans for reducing our fiscal deficits, and he stands ready to continue working with Congress toward this objective. However, those negotiations are separate from any debate over the debt limit. Therefore, I respectful1y urge Congress to meet its responsibility to the nation by extending normal borrowing authority well before any risk of default becomes imminent. In order to avoid a repeat of the damaging brinksmanship that occurred in 2011, Congress should remove the threat of default by taking this action as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Jacob J. Lew

Enclosure

Identical letter sent to:

​The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader 

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader

cc:

The Honorable Dave Camp, Chairman, House Committee on Ways and Means 

The Honorable Sander M. Levin, Ranking Member, House Committee on Ways and Means 

The Honorable  Max Baucus, Chairman, Senate Committee on Finance 

The Honorable ​Orrin Hatch, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance 

All other Members of the 113th Congress

Brandi Hoffine is a Spokesperson for Domestic Finance at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. 

Emphasizing the importance of demand to a resilient global recovery, Under Secretary Brainard noted how the need to expand demand was at the core of Secretary Lew’s discussions in Europe, at the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings and most recently at the G-7 in the U.K. She also observed that the economic policy debate in Europe “is now shifting from restoring financial stability to developing a plan to boost demand and employment.” Addtionally, Under Secretary Brainard noted that the overall focus of economic policy makers should “emphasize action to support domestic demand to ensure that the pursuit of growth within each country advances grown across countries.”

Watch the full video of Under Secretary Brainard’s remarks and discussion below, courtesy of the CFR and read the text of her remarks here.

Anthony Reyes is the New Media Specialist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

It is critical to begin building these financial skills early in life. By starting young, children can learn the difference between wants and needs, the importance and power of saving, and the positive and productive role carefully managing money can play in their lives.

“Starting Early” was the focus of today's FLEC meeting and this theme will guide the Commission’s efforts in the months and years ahead. That commitment was on display this morning as FLEC’s Children and Youth Committee discussed its work to identify areas where federal agencies can better support the financial education efforts of parents and teachers.

The Commission also invited outside organizations to discuss outreach to young people. A representative of Sesame Workshop, the team behind Sesame Street, gave a presentation on incorporating financial literacy into early education at home and in –pre-school settings. Researchers from the Urban Institute informed the Commission of their recent findings on young adults and economic insecurity.

In his remarks, Secretary Lew added how essential it is for all Americans to develop the basic financial knowledge to navigate a complex financial system. Equipping everyone with these resources and tools will not only financially empower them but also make the economy stronger. To read the Secretary’s full remarks at today’s meeting of the FLEC click here.

Louisa Quittman is Director of the Office of Financial Education at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.​

Celebrated the first week of May since 1985, Public Service Recognition Week is a time to honor the men and women who serve our nation as federal, state, county and local government employees. Last week, 15 cabinet secretaries, including Secretary Lew, asked all Americans to join them in thanking public servants and “reflect on the many benefits we all enjoy as a result of their dedicated and tireless work.” 

Today this recognition of public servants extended to hosting the children of Treasury employees for “Take a Future Fed to Work Day.” The day’s events are giving these “Future Feds” an inside look at how Treasury and its bureaus operate and an opportunity to ask questions of senior Treasury officials.

Deputy Secretary Neal 

 

Assistant Secretary for Management Nani Coloretti spoke to a packed room of children ages 8 through 18 and explained her duties in managing the Department’s operations and finances. Assistant Secretary Coloretti noted some of the many issues Treasury works on and encouraged every child of a Treasury employee to ask their parent about what they do to strengthen the nation’s economy. Assistant Secretary Coloretti also shared some fun facts like how the Treasury attic used to be a chemical lab for the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms bureau during the Prohibition era.

Officers from the United States Secret Service also welcomed the young visitors by explaining their jobs in protecting the American people, government officials, foreign dignitaries and the White House complex. The children even got to watch a demonstration by an officer from the K-9 unit on how they train their dogs to sniff out explosives. 

The curiosity and fascination of these children about Treasury’s varied responsibilities provided a fresh reminder of how important the work of all of our public servants is to this country and how they serve as role models for their own kids. To learn more about other events that are Public Service Recognition Week please visit publicservicerecognitionweek.org/. 

 

​ 

​Secretary Lew's school visit was part of Teach For America Week, a national event where local leaders join classrooms to raise awareness of expanding educational opportunities. 

While visiting the classroom, Secretary Lew took questions from the students and listened to presentations about their projects for an upcoming science fair. The passion these bright students showed for a STEM education reflected the promise for the future economy in which they will soon participate.

Victoria Suarez-Palomo is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Business Affairs and Public Liaison at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. ​