You Decide: Should tax expenditures be part of a budget or a budget deal?

By Dr. Mike Walden | Nov 26, 2012

 

Can something called “tax expenditures” be the silver bullet to avoid

a fiscal cliff and put the federal government on a better financial

footing? Maybe so! Some think tax expenditures are the key to any

budget deal in Washington.

 

So what exactly are tax expenditures? The term is somewhat misleading

because logic suggests it means types of spending that are taxed.

Instead, just the opposite is meant. Tax expenditures are certain

kinds of spending made by households and businesses that are not

subject to the federal income tax. So tax expenditures reduce the

amount of tax revenue available to the federal government.

 

To see how tax expenditures work, here’s a brief tutorial on the

federal income tax. The initial calculation of your federal income tax

comes from multiplying your taxable ...

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