Tax Expenditures | Center for Effective Government

Unemployed Americans Kicked Out of Capitol, Forced to Share Their Stories Outside

May 10, 2014 by Jessica Schieder

Six hard-working Americans joined House Democrats gathered at the Capitol on Tuesday afternoon to share stories of their struggle to find employment in a rough job market. The event, which was scheduled to take place inside the Capitol as a hearing, was abruptly cancelled by House Republican leadership. This forced the unemployed workers and dozens of supporters to relocate the event at the last moment.

read in full

Senate Proposal for Infrastructure Bank Benefits Tax Dodgers

Jan 23, 2014 by Jessica Schieder

Sen.s Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Roy Blunt (R-MO) announced their intention to file legislation to establish an infrastructure bank funded by multinational corporations, which would receive significant tax forgiveness on their offshore profits in exchange for capitalizing the bank. The bill is the Senate companion of the Partnership to Build America Act (H.R.

read in full

Baucus Proposal: Corporate Rate Reductions, No Sequester Relief

Nov 22, 2013 by Jessica Schieder

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) released a series of discussion drafts proposing elements of tax reform this week, including recommendations for international tax reform.

Baucus clearly states that tax reform overall should be revenue positive for deficit reduction, but the proposal for international taxation is revenue neutral in the long-run—leaving open the possibility of revenue positive reform of the individual tax system.

read in full

Delaware Flaunts “Shell Company” Policy with New Website

Nov 19, 2013 by Jessica Schieder

The state of Delaware has launched a new website (corplaw.delaware.gov) to promote Delaware’s business-friendly incorporation laws abroad.

read in full

Over $1 Trillion in Tax Breaks Are Detailed in New Report

Sep 17, 2013 by Jessica Schieder

Tax breaks cost the federal government approximately $1.13 trillion in fiscal year 2013, according to a new report by the National Priorities Project (NPP). That is just slightly less than all federal discretionary spending in FY 2013 combined.

read in full

A Diamond in the Rough?

Jun 8, 2010 by Craig Jennings

There's much to criticize in President Obama's plan to cut non-security discretionary spending by five percent (of FY 2011 levels): That by the administration's own estimate, unemployment will be more than eight percent; that discretionary spending funds many important programs like providing nutrition to vulnerable children, protecting the public from lead-tainted toys and e. coli-tainted spinach, and putting police officers on the street; that there's mountains of unnecessary spending on security programs; and that over $1 trillion in IRS-administered spending will remain under the budget radar.

read in full

Obama to Ask for 'Enhanced Rescission Authority'

May 11, 2010 by Gary Therkildsen*

Over the weekend, rumors began trickling out of the administration that President Obama will soon send to Congress a proposal to grant the president greater authority to cut spending out of enacted appropriations bills, called enhanced recession authority. In a Congressional Quarterly article (subscription), which ran on Friday, and a Bureau of National Affairs piece (subscription), which appeared yesterday, an unnamed administration source states that the White House will send the proposal to Capitol Hill before Memorial Day.

read in full

The Recovery Act Spending That Wasn't There

Recovery Act recipient reporting has received a great deal of attention in the media, and while some of this coverage has been critical (reporting on non-existent congressional districts or ZIP codes, unreliable job creation numbers, etc.), many news articles portray comprehensive oversight of the act because of transparency requirements in the law. However, approximately two-thirds of the spending in the Recovery Act bypasses these requirements, leading to a dearth of information about how the money is being spent. As time passes and Recovery Act spending continues, this lack of data is becoming more apparent, as highlighted by a recent Internal Revenue Service (IRS) report showing that millions of dollars in Recovery Act tax breaks are vulnerable to tax fraud.

read in full

Tax Expenditures: The $1.2 Trillion Sieve

Apr 22, 2009 by Craig Jennings

Over the years, Congress has made a number of exceptions in the tax code, ostensibly to encourage certain behavior by certain individuals or corporations. For example, homeowners can deduct from their federal income taxes the interest paid on their mortgage. Health insurance as a benefit by employers are not taxed as individual income. Had the federal government not allowed the mortgage interest deduction or employer-provide health insurance exemption, the Treasury would have seen about $184 billion (67.0 and 116.8, respectively) in more revenues in 2008 than it did.

read in full

CBPP Report on Proper Disclosure of State Tax Expenditures

Apr 14, 2009 by Adam Hughes*

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities published a fantastic, in-depth report this month examining the state of disclosure of state level tax expenditures. The report reviews the best (OR, MN, and CT) and worst (AR, MD, and RI) state reports and outlines the best practices for the ideal tax expenditure disclosure. CBPP makes a strong case that increased disclosure of tax expenditure data by states would improve policies and accountability:

If properly designed and implemented, a tax expenditure report makes tax expenditures more transparent by telling policymakers and the public how the state is spending its money and what it is accomplishing through those expenditures. A tax expenditure report also encourages accountability by enabling policymakers and voters to evaluate individual tax expenditures and decide whether to continue them. In addition, a tax expenditure report saves money by enabling policymakers to monitor the costs of tax expenditures and rein in their cost if necessary.

read in full