Tax extenders

Lots of political will for these babies — unlike the unemployment insurance extension that sank like a stone! An entire bundle of big-ticket special interest tax exemptions will always slide through Congress:

No one in Congress really likes doing things this way, agreeing that the better approach would be to evaluate each tax break on its merits, decide which would become a permanent part of the tax code, and junk the rest. That’s the basic logic behind comprehensive tax reform. But Congress has already given up on any hope of that any time soon. In fact, the major driving forces behind tax reform have already left Congress (former Senate Finance Chair Max Baucus) or are headed for the exits (retiring House Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp).

The new Senate Finance Committee chair Ron Wyden promises this will be the very last time that Congress goes through this exercise. “This is a bi-partisan product and the Chairman has made it clear this will be the final extension,” Wyden’s office said in a statement after the bill passed out of committee. “We need to create certainty now for business and families while we work on the bigger goal of comprehensive reform—which will include putting a spotlight on each provision before deciding which deserve a permanent spot in a modern tax code.”

But there’s anger on both left and right that Congress will inevitably find a way to continue these tax breaks, as it’s done so many times before, despite Congress’s seeming inability to get anything else done. “It is also troubling how quickly senators appear to be able to work out a deal on tax extenders that are unpaid for and largely benefit corporations while spending months crafting an emergency unemployment

benefits package that is paid for by cutting other spending,” Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness.