| Department of the Treasury | |
|---|---|
| Treasury Seal | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | September 2, 1789 |
| Preceding agency | Board of Treasury |
| Jurisdiction | Federal government of the United States |
| Headquarters | Treasury Building 1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. |
| Employees | 115,897 (2007) |
| Annual budget | $19.56 billion (2009) |
| Agency executives | Timothy Geithner, Secretary Neal S. Wolin, Deputy Secretary Rosa Gumataotao Rios, Treasurer |
| Child agencies | Internal Revenue Service United States Mint Bureau of Engraving and Printing Several others |
| Website | |
| treasury.gov | |
The Department of the Treasury is an executive department and the treasury of the United States federal government. It was established by an Act of Congress in 1789 to manage government revenue. The Department is administered by the Secretary of the Treasury, who is a member of the Cabinet.
The first Secretary of the Treasury was Alexander Hamilton, who was sworn into office on September 11, 1789. Hamilton was asked by President George Washington to serve after first having asked Robert Morris (who declined, recommending Hamilton instead). Hamilton almost single-handedly worked out the nation's early financial system, and for several years was a major presence in Washington's administration as well. His portrait is on the obverse of the U.S. ten-dollar bill while the Treasury Department building is shown on the reverse.
Besides the Secretary, one of the best-known Treasury officials is the Treasurer of the United States whose signature, along with the Treasury Secretary's, appears on all Federal Reserve notes.
The Treasury prints and mints all paper currency and coins in circulation through the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and the United States Mint. The Department also collects all federal taxes through the Internal Revenue Service, and manages U.S. government debt instruments, with the major exception of the Federal Reserve System.
The U.S. Treasury is an entirely separate entity from the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. The Federal Reserve, whose Board of Governors, including its chairman and vice-chairman, are chosen by the President and confirmed by the Senate, is independent within the government and its monetary policy decisions, in distinction to the Treasury's decisions, "do not have to be approved by the President or anyone else in the executive or legislative branches of government."
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To execute such services relative to the sale of the lands belonging to the United States, as may be by law required of him; to make report, and give information to either branch of the legislature, in person or in writing (as he may be required), respecting all matters referred to him by the Senate or House of Representatives, or which shall appertain to his office; and generally to perform all such services relative to the finances, as he shall be directed to perform.[1]
The current law, 31 U.S.C. § 301, reads as follows (in part):
| “ | (a) The Department of the Treasury is an executive department of the United States Government at the seat of the Government.
(b) The head of the Department is the Secretary of the Treasury. The Secretary is appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. |
” |
President George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton as the first United States Secretary of the Treasury on September 11, 1789. He left office on the last day of January 1795. Much of the structure of the government of the United States was worked out in those five years, beginning with the structure and function of the cabinet itself.
In the next two years, Hamilton submitted five reports:
The basic functions of the Department of the Treasury mainly include:[2]
With respect to the estimation of revenues for the executive branch, Treasury serves a purpose parallel to that of the Office of Management and Budget for the estimation of spending for the executive branch, the Joint Committee on Taxation for the estimation of revenues for Congress, and the Congressional Budget Office for the estimation of spending for Congress.
From 1830 until 1901, the responsibility of overseeing weights and measures was carried out by the Office of Standard Weights and Measures, which was part of the U.S. Treasury Department. [3] After 1901, the responsibility was assigned to the agency that subsequently became known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
As part of its administration of Federal tax, the Treasury issues a wide range of documents providing its interpretation of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which each document having a varying level of weight for which the tax payer may rely:
The Office of the General Counsel is charged with supervising all legal proceedings involving the collection of debts due the United States, establishing regulations to guide customs collectors, issuing distress warrants against delinquent revenue collectors or receivers of public money, examining Treasury officers' official bonds and related legal documents, serving as legal adviser to the department and administered lands acquired by the United States in payment for debts. This office was preceded by the offices of the Comptroller of the Treasury (1789–1817), First Comptroller of the Treasury (1817–20), Agent of the Treasury (1820–30), and Solicitor of the Treasury 1830–1934.
Congress transferred several agencies that had previously been under the aegis of the Treasury department to other departments as a consequence of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Effective January 24, 2003, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), which had been a bureau of the Department since 1972, was extensively reorganized under the provisions of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. The law enforcement functions of ATF, including the regulation of legitimate traffic in firearms and explosives, were transferred to the Department of Justice as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE). The regulatory and tax collection functions of ATF related to legitimate traffic in alcohol and tobacco remained with the Treasury at its new Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB).
Effective March 1, 2003, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the United States Customs Service, and the United States Secret Service were transferred to the newly-created Department of Homeland Security ("DHS").
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