Subsidyscope.org Updates

Housing Sector Launched

Wed, 30 Mar 2011 09:00:00 -0400

Subsidyscope finds that the federal role in the American housing market is larger than any sector studied thus far, including the transportation, nonprofit and energy sectors. In FY2009, the government spent $244 billion on housing-related grants and tax expenditures. This is an average of about $2,085 dollars per household. The data also show that the government provides significant support for the housing sector through loan guarantees. In fiscal year 2009, federal agencies backed about $688 billion in loans for single- or multi-family homes. These estimates do not include direct housing loans or the substantial liabilities the government assumed when it took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. <a href="/housing/summary/">Read more »</a>

Pew's Tax Expenditure Database

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 09:00:00 -0400

Subsidyscope launches a first-of-its-kind <a href="/tax_expenditures/">database of federal tax expenditure estimates</a> from the Department of Treasury and the Joint Committee on Taxation. The database allows users to easily view specific tax expenditures from either Treasury or JCT and make side-by-side comparisons. Users can sort and aggregate tax expenditures across budget function or economic sector, or drill down to find information about individual tax expenditures. Today's release includes three economic sectors: Energy, Housing and Transportation. The remaining sectors will be launched in Spring 2011. <a href="/tax_expenditures/">Read More »</a>

More Highway Data Released

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Building on an earlier analysis Subsidyscope released in November 2009, which illustrated that user fees are increasingly paying for a smaller share of American roads (51 percent in 2007), <a href="/transportation/highways/funding/state/">Subsidyscope presents a database</a> that allows users to explore and visualize highway funding by level of government and by geographic region. Users may also look at the extent to which funding came from user-related revenue or non-user sources. The data that drives this interface is also available for download. <a href="/transportation/highways/funding/state/">Read More »</a>

Maritime Administration Loan Guarantees

Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:00:00 -0400

The U.S. Maritime Administration’s Title XI Federal Ship Financing Program is a loan guarantee program that subsidizes domestic shipyards. The program has committed nearly $7.5 billion in loan guarantees since 1994. Subsidyscope has compiled 15 years of historical data and summary statistics showing which companies have obtained loan guarantees and how much they received, including outstanding loans and government losses on defaulted loans. The data identify the shipyards that benefited and the ships that were built under the program. <a href="/transportation/risk-transfers/marad/title-xi/">Read more »</a>

Energy Sector Launched

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Subsidyscope’s analysis of government spending data finds that the federal role in the energy sector is significant, although smaller than its role relative to some other sectors, such as transportation. Total federal spending on tax expenditures and grant programs likely to contain a subsidy in the energy sector was about $25 billion in fiscal year 2009. In addition to direct spending and tax expenditures, Subsidyscope examines support provided through risk transfers and regulatory subsidies. The energy sector received about $16.7 billion in direct loans and $14.5 billion in loan guarantees in fiscal year 2009. Government estimates for regulatory subsidies are not typically available; however, Subsidyscope provides an overview of some regulatory subsidies. <a href="/energy/summary/">Read more»</a>

Nonprofit Sector Launched

Wed, 26 May 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Subsidyscope presents government data and summary statistics on federal programs and tax policies that provide subsidies to nonprofit organizations. Subsidyscope’s analysis found government data to be of poor quality. However, the analysis also discovered that the nonprofit sector is overwhelmingly subsidized indirectly through tax subsidies. Subsidyscope determined that the government data on tax subsidies is generally of higher quality than data on grants, contracts and risk transfers because tax expenditures are estimated by one agency, the Treasury Department, while the data on grants, contracts and risk transfers originate from many different agencies that differ in interpretation of, and compliance with, reporting requirements. Thus, the highest quality data coincide with the largest source of subsidies to the nonprofit sector. <a href="/nonprofits/summary/">Read more »</a>

Updated TARP Estimates

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:00:00 -0400

Subsidyscope began posting analysis of the financial bailout in January 2009 and is now providing updates with new information and estimates where available. <a href="http://staging.subsidyscope.com/bailout/">Click here</a> to read more about changes in estimates of federal subsidies to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, new TARP subsidy projections from CBO, updates about TARP warrants and information about repayments under TARP.

TARP Update

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 09:00:00 -0400

<a href="http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/01-26-Outlook.pdf">Recent updates to the TARP subsidy estimates</a> indicate that the previously projected cost of the program to the government for fiscal year 2009 has decreased to $152 billion. This is a significant reduction to the <a href="http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/100xx/doc10014/03-20-PresidentBudget.pdf">Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate from March 2009</a>, when the long-term costs were expected to be $356 billion. That estimate represented a significant increase from <a href="http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/99xx/doc9957/01-07-Outlook.pdf">CBO’s previous January 2009 estimate</a> that the program would cost $189 for the FY 2009–2010 period. Further, <a href="http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/01-26-Outlook.pdf">January 2010 CBO estimates</a> show that the program will bring in revenue for FY 2010, and then cost the government an additional $16 billion from FY 2011–2020. Pew Economic Policy Group’s Doug Hamilton was quoted in <a href="http://money.cnn.com/2010/03/03/news/companies/warrants.tarp.fortune/index.htm">a recent article</a> discussing TARP estimates, in which he confirmed that the projections of TARP’s lifetime costs “are a lot lower than they were last year, mostly because the stock market values have improved so much.” While TARP cost estimates have decreased considerably, <a href="http://cbo.gov/ftpdocs/108xx/doc10871/01-26-Outlook.pdf">CBO’s recent projections</a> indicate that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will impose relatively large costs on the Treasury; the latest estimate for the costs of Fannie and Freddie total $176 billion for FY 2009-2020. Subsidyscope will be updating these and other bailout related information on its Web site soon.

Watch Our Screencast

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:00:00 -0400

Finding detailed information on aviation, highway, transit, rail and maritime transportation spending by the federal government is easy using Subsidyscope.org. Researchers, journalists and the general public are invited to search Subsidyscope's database of over 700,000 entries on federal transportation spending. All content on Subsidyscope is part of the public domain, meaning data can be freely used and cited in other analyses. To learn more, see this tutorial by Subsidyscope Project Director Marcus Peacock, who explains how to search the transportation database using basic and advanced options. <a href="/screencast/">Watch the two-part screencast »</a>

Analysis Finds Shifting Trends in Highway Funding

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:00:00 -0400

The way American roads are funded is changing. Revenues that predominantly come from users of roads ("user fees") including fuel taxes, vehicle registration fees and tolls, pay for a decreasing share of road costs. Taxes and fees not directly related to highway use ("non-user fees") are making up the difference. The analysis shows that in recent years, these revenues are funding a greater share of highway construction and maintenance projects, with a corresponding decrease in the percentage of user contributions, thereby increasing the financial burden on "non-users." Using Federal Highway Administration statistics, Subsidyscope has calculated that in 2007, 51 percent of the nation's $193 billion set aside for highway construction and maintenance was generated through user fees—down from 10 years earlier when user fees made up 61 percent of total spending on roads. The rest came from other sources, including revenue generated by income, sales and property taxes, as well as bond issues. <a href="/transportation/highways/funding/">Read more »</a>