boutons_deux
12-03-2015, 02:53 PM
“Tax Extenders” Bill Swells Massively Under Lobbyist Onslaught (https://theintercept.com/2015/12/03/tax-extenders-bill-swells-massively-under-lobbyist-onslaught/)
A blockbuster tax cut deal, with a 10-year cost of $889 billion and counting, is deep into negotiations on Capitol Hill, proving that Congress doesn’t care about the deficit as long as the right groups get the giveaways.
Virtually every year, Congress packages a series of over 50 tax breaks — a mix of gifts to businesses, commuters, homeowners, Puerto Rican rum manufacturers, thoroughbred horse owners, etc. — and extends them for a short period.
For lobbyists, what is known in Washington as the “tax extenders” bill is like Christmas and a birthday wrapped into one. A 2013 report (http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/report-on-lobbying-on-tax-extenders/) from Americans for Tax Fairness and Public Campaign found that 373 businesses and trade groups hired nearly 1,400 lobbyists to push for tax extenders over a three-year period.
A House rule has made the bill even more enticing than ever. That’s because new federal spending must be “offset” by corresponding cuts or revenue raisers — but new tax cuts don’t.
the challenge is not finding the money, it’s making sure there are enough goodies in the bill that gratify enough members of Congress that it can pass.
The details are fluid and still under negotiation, and the whole thing could still fall apart. But the final bill could cost as much as $889 billion over 10 years, with over 70 percent of that going to business tax breaks.
The bill would extend most of the traditional 50-odd tax breaks for a year, at a 10-year cost of around $45 billion. But it would also make six corporate tax breaks permanent, costing a whopping $667 billion (http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/files/Cost-of-2015-Tax-Extenders-Passed-by-House-and-WM-Cttee-9-15-15.pdf).
The biggest non-corporate measure would extend the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, key anti-poverty tax breaks for the working poor whose expanded benefits would otherwise expire in 2017. That adds another $150 billion (http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2015/02/making_the_eitc_and_ctc_expansions_permanent_would _benefit_13_million_working_families.php#.Vl8reFaF spE) in cost.
House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly wants to erect hurdles (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ryan-pelosi-budget-shutdown-congress-216335) for families trying to claim the Child Tax Credit that would limit its legal use for immigrant families. Corporations will not have to jump through any similar hoops.
Republicans in Congress are proving they believe in the famous dictum uttered by Dick Cheney (http://www.thenation.com/article/gotta-sequester-or-was-cheney-right-deficits-dont-matter/): “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” The GOP’s lack of concern for deficits — as long as donors and friends get the spoils — has a long history.
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/03/tax-extenders-bill-swells-massively-under-lobbyist-onslaught/
A blockbuster tax cut deal, with a 10-year cost of $889 billion and counting, is deep into negotiations on Capitol Hill, proving that Congress doesn’t care about the deficit as long as the right groups get the giveaways.
Virtually every year, Congress packages a series of over 50 tax breaks — a mix of gifts to businesses, commuters, homeowners, Puerto Rican rum manufacturers, thoroughbred horse owners, etc. — and extends them for a short period.
For lobbyists, what is known in Washington as the “tax extenders” bill is like Christmas and a birthday wrapped into one. A 2013 report (http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/report-on-lobbying-on-tax-extenders/) from Americans for Tax Fairness and Public Campaign found that 373 businesses and trade groups hired nearly 1,400 lobbyists to push for tax extenders over a three-year period.
A House rule has made the bill even more enticing than ever. That’s because new federal spending must be “offset” by corresponding cuts or revenue raisers — but new tax cuts don’t.
the challenge is not finding the money, it’s making sure there are enough goodies in the bill that gratify enough members of Congress that it can pass.
The details are fluid and still under negotiation, and the whole thing could still fall apart. But the final bill could cost as much as $889 billion over 10 years, with over 70 percent of that going to business tax breaks.
The bill would extend most of the traditional 50-odd tax breaks for a year, at a 10-year cost of around $45 billion. But it would also make six corporate tax breaks permanent, costing a whopping $667 billion (http://www.americansfortaxfairness.org/files/Cost-of-2015-Tax-Extenders-Passed-by-House-and-WM-Cttee-9-15-15.pdf).
The biggest non-corporate measure would extend the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit, key anti-poverty tax breaks for the working poor whose expanded benefits would otherwise expire in 2017. That adds another $150 billion (http://ctj.org/ctjreports/2015/02/making_the_eitc_and_ctc_expansions_permanent_would _benefit_13_million_working_families.php#.Vl8reFaF spE) in cost.
House Speaker Paul Ryan reportedly wants to erect hurdles (http://www.politico.com/story/2015/12/ryan-pelosi-budget-shutdown-congress-216335) for families trying to claim the Child Tax Credit that would limit its legal use for immigrant families. Corporations will not have to jump through any similar hoops.
Republicans in Congress are proving they believe in the famous dictum uttered by Dick Cheney (http://www.thenation.com/article/gotta-sequester-or-was-cheney-right-deficits-dont-matter/): “Reagan proved that deficits don’t matter.” The GOP’s lack of concern for deficits — as long as donors and friends get the spoils — has a long history.
https://theintercept.com/2015/12/03/tax-extenders-bill-swells-massively-under-lobbyist-onslaught/