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Taxpayer Risks with the Loan Guarantee Program

The Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee program carries extremely high taxpayer risk, potentially jeopardizing billions of taxpayer dollars if energy project loans default....

Oil Shale: Failing Taxpayers for Decades

Since the early 20th century, the federal government and private industry have attempted to commercialize oil shale but after years of...

Subsidizing Oil Shale: Tracing Federal Support for Oil Shale Development in the United States

With fiscal cliff looming, TCS calls for end to government handouts for failed oil shale experiments....

Green Scissors Campaign 101

A basic primer on the Green Scissors campaign and answers general questions about the history and goals of the coalition....

Green Scissors 2012

Left-Right coalition identifies practical steps Congress could take to slash deficits, save natural resources....

Senate Finance Committee Meets to Talk Energy Tax Reform

The Senate Committee on Finance held a hearing last week on tax reform and its impacts on energy policy. Among the four witnesses from...

Senate Ag Committee: More is Less

(Originally published June 8, 2012) With debate on the 2012 Farm Bill underway on the Senate Floor, proponents of this nearly trillion...

The Nation’s Transportation Trust Funds

The nation’s transportation system — highways, transit lines, aviation, waterways, and ports — is largely supported by a series of...

Super Cuts for the Super Committee

Taxpayers for Common Sense has been working hard to meet the challenge of that the so-called Super Committee is facing - $.12-1.5...

Green Scissors 2011

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined environmental, consumer watchdog, and free-market groups today to release Green Scissors 2011, which...

Ongoing TCS Analysis of the FY2012 Budget Proposal

The FY2012 Presidential Budget Request was released this morning. TCS staff will be posting relevant documents and analysis as we digest...

Common Sense Cuts—$900 billion in savings over 10 years

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

TCS Recommended Budget Cuts for the 112th Congress

The time has come for Congress to begin a serious discussion about how it is going to correct the current budgetary path into deeper and...

Fair Market Value for Wind and Solar Development on Public Land

A review and analysis of the laws and regulations governing the collection and use of revenues from commercial energy development on federal lands and is a guide for policy-makers to use in developing appropriate policies for wind and solar energy projects....

Green Scissors 2010

Taxpayers for Common Sense joined a number of environmental and consumer groups and a bipartisan slate of Representatives today in...

Fool Me Once–Energy Legislation Should Include Royalty System for Wind and Solar Projects on Taxpayer Lands

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has refocused Congress’ attention on energy and climate legislation. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid...

Mining Companies Enchanted by New Mexico Giveaways

New Mexico is one of the most heavily mined states in the country, producing large amounts of perlite, copper, and other hardrock...

Arizona Public Lands in Mining Company Hands

Arizona is one of the most heavily mined states in the country, producing large amounts of copper, silver and other hardrock minerals....

The Percentage Depletion Allowance (PDA): A Double Giveaway for Hardrock Mining Companies

For decades, hardrock mining companies have benefited from generous tax breaks at the expense of taxpayers, all the while extracting...

Analysis of Energy Tax Provisions Included in the Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

The following is a summary of the non-consumer energy tax breaks included in H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008....

Royalty-in-Kind:  A Costly Complication

Under intense pressure from the oil and natural gas industry, the Minerals Management Service (MMS)1 started the Royalty-in-Kind (RIK)...

Rip-Off in Big Cypress: How the Department of the Interior attempted to orchestrate one of the worst land deals in history

By: John Nohlgren On May, 29th 2002, President George W. Bush and his brother, Florida Governor Jeb Bush, together announced the...

Engineering Boondoggles

While Washington is wringing its hands about the automatic across-the-board budget cuts known as...