Taxes are due on April 15 – right around the corner – though few Americans know where their taxes actually go. So NPP is launching Tax Day 2013 – a suite of materials, including this chart that shows how Washington spent every one of your income tax dollars in 2012.

After months of inaction on the federal budget, Congress is now wrapping up work on two – the budget for fiscal year 2013, which began back on Oct. 1, 2012, and the first steps in a budget for fiscal 2014, which will begin on Oct. 1, 2013.

Last week I explained that the federal government is operating on a temporary spending bill called a continuing resolution instead of a real budget for fiscal 2013. That continuing resolution expires on March 27. If lawmakers don't pass new legislation the federal government will shut down on March 28. Here's what's happening.

Three budget proposals for 2014 arrived in Congress this week – one authored by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan, another by Senate Budget Chair Patty Murray, and one by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Here are the top five things to know.

The Census Bureau is yet another agency impacted by the sequester, and result could be delayed release of some key economic data. Cutting this bureau's funds could lead to uninformed budgeting and the inability to track the outcomes of our policies and spending.

Today House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan released his budget resolution for fiscal 2014. The proposal includes many of the same elements as his proposal last year – including deep cuts to spending on health care and safety-net programs like food stamps, plus reductions in many other kinds of spending.

News about the federal budget is almost impossible to follow, so here’s some straight talk about whether or not there’s a federal budget for 2013 and why things are even worse than they seem.

The legislation introduced yesterday would extend the current spending bill through the end of the fiscal year – in other words, Congress is proposing to go through this entire fiscal year without passing an actual budget. However, this new legislation did include an actual budget for just two areas of government – Defense and Military Construction-Veterans Affair.

Unable to broker an eleventh-hour deal with congressional Republican leaders, President Obama signed the order activating the automatic across-the-board federal spending cuts known as sequestration.

All signs point to sequestration taking effect as scheduled tomorrow, March 1. To bring you right up to date, here are alternatives to sequestration that have been proposed by both parties.