Thursday’smeeting of the Senate Finance Committee was supposed to be this nation’s firststep toward comprehensive reform of the Internal Revenue Code, attacking a listof 75 different special interest tax incentives that don’t really have anythingat all to do with social policy – the usual justification for special interestbenefits conferred by Congress through tax code loopholes. Instead, it turnedout to be a clear demonstration of just how wimpy Senators can be when faced withtaking away tax benefits for their own constituents.
Hereare some of the specialized tax advantages that were on the agenda fortermination, but ended up being retained in future tax years: 1) accelerateddepreciation for capital improvements at NASCAR racetracks (wonder what thesocial policy behind that one could be?); 2) millions of dollars in rum taxrebates for Puerto Rico and the U. S. Virgin Islands (wonder which SenateFinance committee members drink daiquiris?); 3) economic development taxcredits for StarKist’s tuna cannery in American Samoa; 4) tax credits of $2,500for buyers of electric motorcycles and other low speed electric vehicles (theSenators did remove golf carts from the list of qualifying electric vehicles,though). Out of 75 special interest tax benefits on the termination agenda, theSenators could only agree that 20 were fit for elimination. Characterizingthese moves as “more than baby steps,” Finance Chairman Max Baucus crowed “I’mproud of what we’ve done as a committee.”
Othercommittee members were somewhat more truthful in their remarks defending thesmall number of special interest perks removed from the tax code in thecommittee report, which won’t even get a vote in either house until midSeptember, when the six week summer recess concludes. Michigan Senator DebbieStabenow candidly pleaded for the NASCAR accelerated depreciation as a jobsaver in her state: “Big tax reform is where we need to look at all this stuff,”she said. Meaning, let’s kick this can down the road until after the elections.Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn was more candid. “Nobody wants to make the hardchoices around here,” he intoned.
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