Tierney Calls on President Obama and Congressional Leaders to Address Tax Expenditures in Any "Debt Limit Deal"
Press Release
As negotiations continue on reducing the deficit, Congressman John Tierney urged the White House and congressional leaders to include the elimination of wasteful and unnecessary tax expenditures as part of any final debt deal. Later today, Tierney will introduce legislation -- the Tax Equity and Middle Class Fairness Act of 2011 - that terminates nearly 30 tax expenditures that serve little or no public purpose, are poorly designed, or have not fulfilled their original intent. Ending these tax subsidies and giveaways would save over $60 billion in the first year and nearly $483 billion over the next 5 years.
"Any serious and responsible plan to tackle the deficit must address tax expenditures. Legislation I am introducing today gives negotiators a clear blueprint for how to proceed on this critical issue," said Congressman Tierney.
In addition to eliminating nearly 30 tax expenditures, Tierney's bill would also require the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to evaluate the effectiveness of all remaining tax expenditures in current law and report to Congress with recommendations for the elimination of provisions that are poorly targeted or serve no public purpose
Unlike the Republican budget proposal, authored by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), Tierney's bill demonstrates that budget savings can be achieved without slashing critical investments in job training and workforce development, health, education or community development programs on which working and middle-class Americans rely. Even Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan, while writing about tax expenditures in the Wall Street Journal, said "if Congress is serious about cutting government spending, it has to go after many of them."
There is broad and bipartisan support for addressing tax expenditures, including the Bipartisan Policy Center's Domenici-Rivlin Commission, Center for American Progress, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, Citizens for Tax Justice, Government Accountability Office, Economic Policy Institute, DEMOS, Simpson-Bowles National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, among others.
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