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Tuesday, June 10, 2008
CBPP: Tax Extenders Need Comprehensive Review
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has a helpful policy brief out today that runs through all the reasons the upcoming package of tax cuts -- popularly referred to as the "extenders" package -- should be offset. We couldn't agree with CBPP more. In their brief, they make four main points, the last of which is probably the most important:
- Congress should pay for the tax extenders, as its budget rules require.
- Arguments against applying PAYGO to the extenders bill do not withstand scrutiny..
- The offsets in the House-passed bill are reasonable policy.
- In the future, Congress should subject the extenders to greater scrutiny.
CBPP makes a great point with the fourth one on the list. There has not been any mention during debate on the extenders this year (or in any past year I can remember) that considered whether some of the provisions of the "extenders" package should continue to exist. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) did mention during a committee markup that a comprehensive review of the package to determine which aspects were achieving their goals was necessary, but that review has not yet taken place. The popular name of the package itself -- the "extenders -- implies these tax policy provision will live on year after year without any review.
Hopefully while Congress tries to get its act together in order to go the extra mile and do a comprehensive review of the "extenders" package, they will at least do no harm and pay for the policies they want to extend wholesale.
Posted by Adam Hughes
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