Recently, a number of analysts have suggested that curtailing tax expenditures—provisions of the tax code that are economically equivalent to direct spending programs—would be the best way to raise revenue to shore up the nation’s finances. Following are some resources for those interested in this topic.
AARP Public Policy Institute, Spending Entitlements and Tax Entitlements (May 2007).
Center for American Progress, Government Spending Undercover (April 2010).
Citizens for Tax Justice, Judging Tax Expenditures (November 13, 2009).
Congressional Research Service, Tax Expenditures and the Federal Budget (August 19, 2008).
Congressional Research Service, Tax Expenditures: Trends and Critiques (September 13, 2006).
Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, The End of Tax Expenditures as We Know Them? (June 13, 2001).
Joint Committee on Taxation, Estimates of Federal Tax Expenditures for Fiscal Years 2009-2013 (January 11, 2010).
Joint Committee on Taxation, A Reconsideration of Tax Expenditure Analysis (May 12, 2008).
National Tax Association, Tax Expenditures (October 2005).
Office of Management and Budget, Tax Expenditures: Fiscal Year 2011 (February 2010).
Senate Budget Committee, Tax Expenditures: Compendium of Background Material on Individual Provisions (December 2008).
Small Business Administration, The Impact of Tax Expenditure Policies on Incorporated Small Businesses (April 2004).
Tax Policy Center, How Big Are Total Individual Tax Expenditures, and Who Benefits from Them? (December 2008).
U.S. Government Accountability Office, Tax Expenditures Represent a Substantial Federal Commitment and Need to Be Reexamined (September 2005).
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column at The Fiscal Times. Read his most recent column here. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
