Changes to the Federal Statistical System: Monthly Update

Department of Treasury Reported to Be Blocking Release of Statistics of Income Products: Two statistical products about taxes collected for tax year 2025 were scheduled for release in July and September this year but have yet to be released. Politico reports that the Treasury Department is preventing without explanation the Statistics of Income (SOI) from releasing these products and notes that they would have “detailed data showing how Republicans’ 2025 tax cuts affected millions of Americans’ taxes.” These delays follow last month’s reporting that the “administration has held up the publication of an annual Internal Revenue Service estimate of unpaid taxes,” a product on which SOI coordinates and that the statistical agency posts to its website. A statistical agency’s advance publication of, and adherence to, a publication schedule is an important practice for maintaining trust in an agency’s products. Further, in accordance with the Trust Regulation and the Evidence Act, the Treasury Department and the IRS have a responsibility to support SOI in fulfilling this statutory responsibility.  

Concern for Quality, Timeliness, Utility of 2030 Census Data: The September 10 proposed rule by the U.S. Census Bureau to change who is counted for apportionment, expand the enumeration period from April 1 to include the three months prior, and ban race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation questions on decennial questionnaires has raised deep concerns broadly across the census stakeholder community. The concerns include the fundamental shift away from the Constitutional requirement that it count the “whole number of persons in each State” for apportionment and how the changes will likely increase the undercount—especially for rural areas and households of color—and otherwise jeopardize data quality, timeliness, and utility. Given the gravity of the risks to a fair and accurate census, 20 stakeholder groups have partnered on a joint effort to encourage people to respond to the proposed rule by the November 2 deadline and have provided numerous resources to do so.

Increased Data Sharing Proposed Within Department of Commerce: The U.S. Census Bureau is “proposing to share certain business data with the Bureau of Economic Analysis within the Department of Commerce.” Such data sharing for statistical purposes among federal statistical agencies with protections against disclosure is authorized by the Evidence Act and can have several benefits, such as improving data quality, reducing respondent burden, and making data production more efficient.

Modest Hiring Continues and Other Encouraging Developments: The National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics became the eighth statistical agency to advertise for positions in the past 20 months. The BEA and NASS also advertised for positions in the past month. Relatedly, SOI resumed acceptance of applications through the Standard Application Process for research with confidential data in a secure environment, reversing a summer 2025 decision. In other encouraging signs, NASS launched a new data dissemination tool, AgInsights, that “offers streamlined information dissemination, increased operational efficiency, and a more dynamic, interactive experience so producers have easier navigation and access to the latest agricultural data.”

Recent Reports:

•  A Mission Statement for the Federal Statistical System (Bipartisan Policy Center, Issue Brief #1 of 4)
•  Recommendations to Improve Coordination and Interoperability in the Federal Statistical System (Bipartisan Policy Center, Issue Brief #2 of 4)
• Data Foundation Policy Brief: What Americans Trust About Government Data

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