New Report By Senator Coburn Highlights Tax Code Giveaways
Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) has released a new report called “Tax Decoder” highlighting the billions in subsidies and market distortions littering the tax code. From the summary:
As Washington politicians rush to pass another end of the year bill extending billions of dollars in tax breaks for special interests, a new report highlights over $900 billion of giveaways throughout the tax code.
More than 165 tax expenditures worth over $900 billion this year and more than $5 trillion over the next five years are revealed in Tax Decoder, a new report decoding the tax code.
Gamblers who lose at the casino or horse track can still win on their tax return by writing off gambling losses. Hollywood movie makers aren’t just collecting at the box office, they are also downloading tax subsidies from the IRS. There is no shortage of tax subsidies for the rich and famous, such as credits to renovate vacation homes and purchase luxury cars and deductions for yachts.
Ideally, Congress would throw out the entire tax code and start over, but at the very least the code should be made simpler, fairer and flatter. This report provides a list of options for Congress to streamline and simplify the tax code to achieve that goal. While many of the tax breaks identified throughout this report should be phased out or eliminated, others could also be reformed to better achieve their intended purpose.