If you were one of the many taxpayers scrambling to meet the recent tax deadlines, the question of just how the government spends the money it takes in probably crossed your mind at some point. The goal of the recently launched Data Transparency Coalition is to get data on federal spending, as well as regulatory filings and legislative actions available online, in a standard format.

Even when the government does publish such data, it often lacks consistency and can’t be electronically read, says Hudson Hollister, the Coalition’s founder and executive director. As a result, efforts to search the data to identify spending patterns or instances of waste, fraud or abuse are more difficult than they need to be — if not pointless. more

With most corporate investment policies centered on security and liquidity, it’s probably not surprising that bank deposits and money market funds form the backbone of many corporate cash management investments, as a new survey of 215 treasurers by SunGard indicates. In fact, bank deposits account for more than two-thirds of companies’ investments, while money market funds account for nearly half. Third in popularity, after bank deposits and money market funds, is another group of generally safe investments – government and treasury securities. About 29 percent of respondents include these in their portfolios. more

In the United States, when the President submits his (and some day, her) budget to Congress, the focus often is on spending. The budget allows the President to outline the Administration’s priorities, deciding how much to allocate to, say, defense or social programs. Still, contained in the budget President Obama submitted to Congress earlier this week were a number of provisions geared to the revenue, or tax, side of the equation.

For starters, the President’s budget message outlined his belief that those who earn more should pay a higher rate of taxes. “It is wrong for Warren Buffett’s secretary to pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett. This is not about class warfare; this is about the Nation’s welfare.” With this in mind, the President stated his intention to push for the expiration of tax cuts for families making more than $250,000 a year, as well as to more generous estate tax provisions than were in place in 2009. “These policies were unfair and unaffordable when they were passed, and they remain so today,” he said. more

The days of paper invoices continue to decline, as electronic invoicing proliferates. In 2011, the use of e-invoicing jumped by 20 percent, according to an estimate from Basware and Billentis. One reason for the growth is legislation mandating or encouraging its use in several countries, including Finland and Mexico. In the U.S., the Department of the Treasury last year announced that it was “mandating that all Treasury Bureaus implement the Internet Payment Platform (IPP), an electronic invoice processing solution, by the end of fiscal year 2012. Additionally, in fiscal year 2013, Treasury will require that its commercial vendors submit their invoices using IPP.”

The Treasury says that adopting IPP across just that department will save $7 million annually. If IPP were adopted across the Federal government, the savings would hit $450 million annually, the U.S. Treasury estimated. more

Tax extenders — the term given to provisions in the tax code that, if not renewed every year or two, will expire — were the subject of a recent hearing of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

More than 130 extenders, from the R&D credit to deductions for state and local taxes, currently clutter the tax code, Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.), ranking member of the Committee, said at the hearing. The uncertainty they create causes hassles for both homeowners and businesses. “For businesses to succeed, Congress must provide a stable and certain tax code,” Baucus said. more