The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Washington DC, the following statement was released by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, and FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg:
Continue reading BREAKING: Joint Statement by Treasury, Federal Reserve, and FDIC
State Senator Holly Schepisi, ” Hell Must Have Froze Over”
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, After a thorough review of fuel consumption statistics and consultation with the Legislative Budget and Finance Officer, the Department of the Treasury announced on Tuesday that New Jersey’s gas tax rate will decrease by 8.3 cents per gallon beginning October 1 to comport with the 2016 law that requires a steady stream of revenue to support the State’s Transportation Trust Fund (TTF) program.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
TRENTON — The Department of the Treasury reported that August revenue collections for the major taxes totaled $1.958 billion, down $117.4 million, or 5.7 percent below last August. For the first two months of traditional Fiscal Year 2021 (FY 2021), total collections of $2.140 billion are down $374.7 million, or 14.9 percent below the same two months last year.
Continue reading NJ August Tax Collections Continue to Plummet
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Trenton NJ, The Department of the Treasury reported that June revenue collections for the major taxes totaled $2.92 billion, down $503 million, or 14.7 percent below last June. The June decline eclipsed last month’s decline of 13.5 percent over the previous May, indicating that the economic impact of the global pandemic shows little signs of abating. Fiscal year-to-date, total collections of $29.784 billion are now down $3.0 billion, or 9.2 percent below the same period last year.
Continue reading New Jersey Tax Collections Weaken Further , Down 14.7% in June
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, according to the Social Security Administration , the Department of the Treasury (Treasury) announced on April 1 that Social Security beneficiaries who are not typically required to file tax returns will not need to file an abbreviated tax return to receive an economic impact payment. The IRS will use the information on the Form SSA-1099 to generate $1,200 economic impact payments to Social Security beneficiaries who did not file tax returns in 2018 or 2019.
Treasury, not Social Security, will make automatic payments to Social Security beneficiaries. Beneficiaries will receive these payments by direct deposit or by paper check, just as they would normally receive their Social Security benefits.
For updates from the IRS, visit www.irs.gov/coronavirus.
By Johnny Kampis / January 18, 2017 / News / 2 Comments
The Government Accountability Office says many federal agencies’ financial books are in such bad shape that they cannot be audited.
In a report released last week, the GAO said material weaknesses in accounting procedures “hamper the federal government’s ability to reliably report a significant portion of its assets, liabilities, costs and other related information.”
The GAO said those weaknesses also:
Affect the federal government’s ability to reliably measure the full costs and financial performance of certain programs and activities.
Impair the federal government’s ability to adequately safeguard significant assets and properly record various transactions.
Hinder the federal government from having reliable financial information to operate in an efficient and effective manner.
The GAO said its report on the U.S. government’s consolidated financial statements for fiscal years 2015 and 2016 “underscores that much work remains to improve federal financial management.” The agency couldn’t even express an opinion on the balance sheets because of the weak financial reporting.
“It’s another way of saying ‘we wash our hands of this,’” Bill Bergman, director of research for Truth in Accounting, said of the internal government watchdog.
Bergman said the sorry situation is nothing new. The GAO has highlighted such sloppy record-keeping for two decades. And he said such dismal reports wouldn’t fly in the private sector.
“A private corporation wouldn’t have a record like this for so many years,” Bergman told Watchdog.org.
GAO noted that 34 percent of the federal government’s reported assets and 18 percent of its reported net cost relate to federal entities that were unable to issue audited financial statements, were unable to receive audit opinions on the complete set of financial statements or received a disclaimer of opinion on their statements.
The GAO called out the Department of Health and Human Services and Department of Defense, in particular, for weak internal controls.
The agency also took a shot at the Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget, noting that some of the “numerous recommendations” GAO made to those agencies in previous years to address internal control deficiencies remain unaddressed. The secretary of the Treasury and director of OMB are required to annually submit financial statements for the U.S. government, audited by the GAO, to the president and Congress.
“It’s a sad state of affairs,” Bergman said. “It comes with the territory when you’ve got a government this big and this complex.”