Last week, the Center on Budget provided an important reminder that most of the nearly $1 trillion in tax expenditures in FY 2006 took the form of deductions rather than credits and that "tax deductions are larger for households in higher tax brackets or with higher deductible expenses -- and may be nonexistent for households that take the standard deduction or have no income tax liability." So what should the president and Congress do? At a minimum, any new tax expenditures with a behavioral motivation should be implemented as credits rather than deductions. House Democrats campaigned on "making college tuition tax deductible," but the details of their plan wisely would implement that rhetoric in the form of a tax credit. But the big gains come only from taking on the existing system of tax expenditures. Ideally that process would contribute toward reducing the nation's large fiscal gap and toward making the tax system more progressive, helping to offset some of the increase in inequality in recent decades. But even a revenue- and distribution-neutral reform of tax expenditures would have substantial dividends, making the tax code more fair and efficient while helping promote goals policymakers have identified, like increasing the prevalence of health insurance, college, and homeownership.