2020 to today

1. 2020September 17, 2020Taxes & Government Spending

   A federal judge blocks the 2020 mail changes; from the bench he calls them a politically motivated attack

   On-time first-class mail had dropped from 90 to 80 percent.

   Source: Judge Blocks Postal Service Changes That Slowed Mail, Calling It Politically Motivated AttackRead the full story →
2. 2022April 6, 2022Taxes & Government Spending

   Congress repeals the prefunding mandate and cancels about $57 billion in missed payments

   House 342 to 92, Senate 79 to 19.

   Source: Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-108)Read the full story →
3. 2024February 29, 2024Taxes & Government Spending

   23 large profitable corporations paid no federal income tax for five years

   342 paid 14.1 percent on average, 2018 to 2022.

   Source: Corporate Tax Avoidance in the First Five Years of the Trump Tax LawRead the full story →
4. April 15, 2024Taxes & Government Spending

   F-35 lifetime cost passes $2 trillion

   Sustainment up 44 percent since 2018; availability down five years running.

   Source: F-35 Sustainment: Costs Continue to Rise While Planned Use and Availability Have Decreased (GAO-24-106703)Read the full story →
5. 2025January 31, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

   Postal regulator: the 2025 standards will downgrade service for half of ZIP code pairs, worst for rural areas

   Mail more than 50 miles from a hub gets an added day.

   Source: Advisory Opinion, Docket No. N2024-1Read the full story →
6. May 16, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

   Moody's removes the last Aaa rating

   Successive administrations and Congress have failed to agree.

   Source: Moody's downgrades U.S. credit rating, citing rising government debtRead the full story →
7. July 4, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

   Public Law 119-21 signed

   $3.4 trillion in deficits, 10 million more uninsured, $1,200 a year from the bottom tenth, $13,600 to the top.

   Source: Estimated Budgetary Effects of Public Law 119-21Read the full story →
8. November 10, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

   Fiscal 2025: corporations paid 8.6 percent of federal receipts

   Individuals paid $2,656 billion in income tax and $1,748 billion in payroll tax; customs duties up 153 percent.

   Source: Monthly Budget Review: Summary for Fiscal Year 2025Read the full story →
9. December 16, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

   GAO: $118 billion in postal losses since 2006, with cash possibly gone in 2026

   The stamp had reached 78 cents, on the way to 82.

   Source: U.S. Postal Service: Action Needed to Fix Unsustainable Business Model (GAO-26-107336)Read the full story →
10. December 19, 2025Taxes & Government Spending

    Pentagon fails its eighth audit in eight

    26 material weaknesses on $4.65 trillion in assets.

    Source: Independent Auditor's Reports on the DoD FY 2025 Financial StatementsRead the full story →
11. 2025Taxes & Government Spending

    Social Security cost exceeds income by $160.2 billion

    Reserves $2,561.3 billion; empty in the fourth quarter of 2032.

    Source: A Summary of the 2026 Annual Reports of the Social Security and Medicare Boards of TrusteesRead the full story →
12. 2026June 9, 2026Taxes & Government Spending

    Trustees: the retirement fund is empty in the fourth quarter of 2032

    78 percent of benefits payable after.

    Source: 2026 OASDI Trustees Report, HighlightsRead the full story →
13. July 28, 2026Taxes & Government Spending

    Clay County approves a stormwater assessment on every developed property

    $51 to $161.50 a year per home, on tax bills from November. Residents at the hearing read the ordinance back to the board.

    Source: New Stormwater Tax For Unincorporated Clay County: How Much Will You Pay?Read the full story →
14. August 7, 2026Taxes & Government Spending

    National debt $39.885 trillion

    Interest passed $1 trillion a year in fiscal 2025.

    Source: Debt to the PennyRead the full story →

Stories (5)

• July 4, 2025The July 4, 2025 Tax and Spending Act: $4.1 Trillion Added to the Debt and Medicaid CutsPublic Law 119-21 was signed on July 4, 2025. The Congressional Budget Office's estimate is that it adds $3.4 trillion to the deficits of the next ten years, $4.1 trillion with the interest, and leaves 10 million more people without health insurance in 2034. Households in the lowest tenth lose $1,200 a year, mostly from Medicaid and food aid. Households in the highest tenth gain $13,600 a year, mostly from tax cuts. It raised the debt limit by $5 trillion, gave $45 billion for immigration detention and $150 billion to the Pentagon, and cut the consumer bureau's funding in half.Taxes & Government Spending
• 2006 to 2026How the 2006 Retiree Prefunding Law and 2021 Delivery Cuts Damaged the US Postal ServiceIn 2006 Congress passed a law, without a recorded vote in either chamber, that made the Postal Service set aside more than $5 billion a year to prefund the health benefits of retirees who had not yet retired, a burden no other agency carries. The payments drove most of the reported losses that followed, and in 2022 Congress repealed the mandate and canceled about $57 billion in missed payments. By then the service was slower and dearer. A 2021 plan lengthened first-class delivery from one to three days to one to five, the price of a stamp rose from 55 cents in 2019 to 82 cents in July 2026, and a 2025 change added a day to mail sent from any post office more than 50 miles from a regional hub, which the regulator found would fall hardest on rural areas. The service lost $9.5 billion in fiscal 2024 and $9.0 billion in fiscal 2025, and in April 2026 it stopped paying into its pension fund to keep cash on hand.Taxes & Government Spending
• 1995 to 2026The Pentagon Has Failed Eight Consecutive Audits on $4.65 Trillion in AssetsThe Department of Defense has failed every full audit it has ever had, eight in a row through fiscal 2025, on $4.65 trillion in assets. Its financial management has been on the Government Accountability Office's high risk list since 1995, and it is the only major agency that has never been able to account for its spending or its property. The day before September 11, 2001 its secretary said it could not track $2.3 trillion in transactions. National defense spending in fiscal 2026 is $1.05 trillion.Taxes & Government Spending
• 2025 to 2032Social Security's 2032 Insolvency Date, the $39.8 Trillion National Debt, and the US Credit DowngradeThe Social Security trustees reported on June 9, 2026 that the retirement trust fund will be empty in the last quarter of 2032, six years away, after which the program can pay 78 percent of the benefits it has promised. The federal debt passed $39.8 trillion in August 2026, net interest on it passed $1 trillion a year in fiscal 2025, and in May 2025 the last of the three rating agencies took away the country's top credit rating, saying that successive administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend. A worker who is 30 today has paid into a program that, on its own trustees' numbers, cannot pay what it owes by the time that worker is 36.Taxes & Government Spending
• July 2026Clay County, Florida Residents Challenge New Stormwater Property TaxIn July 2026 the Clay County, Florida commission approved a new stormwater assessment on every developed property in the unincorporated county, $51 to $161.50 a year, to show up on tax bills in November. At the public hearing, residents who maintain their own ditches read the ordinance aloud and asked the board what they were being charged for.Taxes & Government Spending