Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations

Reggie Oldak is Senior Counsel for Family Economic Security and Director of Government Relations. She focuses particularly on taxes and the federal budget.  Before joining the Center, Ms. Oldak worked for the Chief Counsel of the Internal Revenue Service and then in private practice on issues affecting the taxation of nonprofit organizations. She is a past president of the Montgomery County (MD) Commission for Women, currently chairs the Board of Directors of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington, and has worked extensively with local and state government representatives and community leaders in Maryland to advocate for issues central to the concerns of women and families. She has been active in politics and in 2006 won the endorsement of The Washington Post when she ran for (and almost won!) a seat in the Maryland House of Delegates. Ms. Oldak is graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center and Smith College.

Expert in: Federal Budget, Federal Tax Policy, Data on Poverty & Income, Tax & Budget
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My Take

Kick 70,000 Kids Off Head Start (for Starters) or Make Millionaires Pay a Fair Share - Senators Will Decide Soon

Posted by
Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel
Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations
| Posted on: February 15, 2013 at 05:15 pm

Yesterday, Senate Democrats proposed a plan to postpone across-the-board spending cuts — known inside the beltway as the “sequester” — that are currently scheduled to take effect in just two weeks, on March 1. The bill, called the American Family Economic Protection Act, includes $120 billion of savings — enough to replace the sequester through the end of calendar year 2013. 

Unlike the sequester, which reduces the deficit solely through deep spending cuts (on top of earlier spending cuts that are 2.5 times greater than new revenues), the American Family Economic Protection Act achieves savings from an equal amount of revenues and cuts (plus about $10 billion in interest savings). The bill would raise $54 billion over 10 years by adopting the “Buffett rule,” a measure that would ensure very wealthy taxpayers cannot get away with paying taxes at a lower effective rate than middle class families. Those with incomes above $1 million (after subtracting charitable contributions) would be required to pay at least a 30 percent tax rate, with a phase-in for incomes between $1 million and $2 million. An additional $1 billion in revenue would be raised by eliminating an oil industry tax loophole and a tax deduction for businesses that ship jobs overseas. 

On the spending side, savings in the bill would come mostly from modest reductions in the overall level of defense spending — which would not begin until FY 2015, when the war in Afghanistan is expected to end – and cuts in agriculture subsidies, especially direct payments to farmers that are currently provided regardless of yields, prices, or farm income.  

All in all, this sounds like a reasonable proposal to us — especially compared to the sequester, which would be devastating for many programs that women and their families depend on.

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Tags: Budget, Child Care & Early Learning, Early Learning, Head Start, Head Start, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

So, What Exactly is a Discharge Petition?

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: December 05, 2012 at 10:12 am

A discharge petition is a petition maintained by the Clerk of the House of Representatives which, when signed by a majority of House members, can discharge a committee from the further consideration of the object of the petition. (English: It’s a way to force the bill out of committee and onto the House floor so that it can be debated and voted on.) It requires 218 signatures – no more, no less, regardless of resignations or deaths, because the rule requires enough member signatures to constitute a true majority of the House.  

As you may know, House Democrats filed a discharge petition on H.R. 15, the Middle Class Tax Cut Act, yesterday. It is being referred to as the Walz petition because it was filed by Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.).

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Tags: 112 Congress, House of Representatives, Federal Tax Policy, Tax Reform, Tax & Budget | 2 comments

No Government Shutdown, But Sequester Looms

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: September 14, 2012 at 05:00 pm

Yesterday, the House voted 329 to 91 to approve a stopgap spending package (H.J. Res. 117) that would keep federal agencies funded for the first six months of fiscal year 2013. The Senate is expected to approve the package next week, and the President has indicated he will sign it.

This continuing resolution would fund the federal government through March 27, 2013 at a total cost of $1.047 trillion, the amount agreed to in the Budget Control Act of 2011. The overall funding levels for the first six months of FY 2013 will be slightly (0.612 percent for most accounts) above FY 2012 in absolute dollars, although not enough to keep pace with inflation.

Given what’s been going on in Congress this year, this counts as pretty good news. Congress has averted a government shutdown and avoided having to argue over short-term spending in the upcoming lame-duck session after the November election. But by passing this temporary measure instead of the annual appropriations bills that separately fund discretionary programs, Congress has punted a lot of spending decisions into next year.

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Tags: Federal Budget, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Tax Reform: What’s In a Name?

Posted by Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations | Posted on: August 02, 2012 at 02:32 pm

The latest effort by the House Republican leadership is called “Pathway to Job Creation through a Simpler, Fairer Tax Code Act of 2012” (H.R. 6169). That’s a misnomer.

This bill would provide for expedited consideration of tax reform legislation – but only on the condition that it include additional massive tax cuts for high-income households and corporations and leave behind millions of women and their families.

Under H.R. 6169, the current six-bracket personal income tax system would be replaced with just two rates, 10 percent and 25 percent (or less). But reducing the number of brackets won’t make it any simpler to file your taxes. The IRS – with or without your favorite tax prep software – already tells you how much tax you owe after you fill in the Form 1040 – you don’t have to muddle through the brackets yourself. There’s probably an app for that, anyway. But fewer brackets mean that our tax system is less progressive, because then taxpayers with extremely high earnings pay taxes at the same rate as those with lower earnings. “Simple” doesn’t necessarily mean “fair”. 

Like the 2013 Ryan budget, H.R. 6169 calls for large tax cuts for the very wealthy. In 2015, those making $1 million or more would enjoy an average tax cut of $265,000 (on top of what they would get from extending the Bush-era tax cuts). In contrast, those making between $20,000 and $30,000 would get an average tax cut of $129 from the tax cuts proposed in the Ryan budget and H.R. 6169, and half of the people in that lower income bracket would get no tax cut at all.

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Tags: Taxes, Tax Reform, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

House Passes Giveaway to Millionaires, Cuts Help for Poor and Middle Class Families

Posted by
Katherine Gallagher Robbins, Senior Policy Analyst
Reggie Oldak, Senior Counsel and Director of Government Relations
| Posted on: April 19, 2012 at 05:04 pm

Millionaires have had a very good week. Women and their families have had a very bad week.

It started Monday, when 45 Senators voted to block the "Paying a Fair Share Act" (S. 2230), which would have implemented the Buffett Rule by requiring households with incomes above $1 million to pay at least a 30 percent income tax rate. Tax revenues support programs vital to women and their families at every stage of their lives, and women pay the price when millionaires and billionaires avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

Today, the House passed "The Small Business Tax Cut Act" (H.R. 9). The bill provides a 20 percent tax deduction in 2012 for businesses with fewer than 500 employees — not exactly your mom-and-pop store!

H.R. 9 would have more aptly been named the Giveaway to Millionaires Act. The Tax Policy Center estimates that taxpayers making over $1 million a year would receive nearly half of the windfall. Exactly how big is this tax break? The average millionaire would get a new tax break of $44,635 next year. The average benefit for low-income tax payers in the bottom fifth of the income distribution? Just $2. All while adding $46 billion dollars to the deficit over the next ten years.

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Tags: 112 Congress, Taxes, Federal Tax Policy, Tax & Budget | 4 comments