House GOP approves more tax breaks without paying for them | MSNBC

It’s a simple rule: if Democrats want to invest in the public, the deficit is paramount. When Republicans want to pass a tax break, the deficit is irrelevant.

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At this point, congressional Republicans no longer even try to justify the rhetorical contradictions. When Democrats want to make any kind of public investment, even after a natural disaster, GOP officials insist every penny must be fully paid for without raising anyone’s taxes by any amount at any time.

But when those same Republican lawmakers want to cut taxes, they magically discover that the deficit isn’t so important after all.

The House on Thursday passed two bills to permanently extend tax credits that expired at the end of 2013 despite veto threats from the Obama administration.

The more expensive of the two tax measures the House passed, 272-144, extends a provision known as Section 179 that allows small businesses to write off up to $500,000 worth of investments a year. […]

The House also passed, 263-155, a pair of incentives, packaged together in one bill, to help a type of small business known as S corporations. S corporations do not pay federal income taxes and instead pass along income to their shareholders, who then report that on their personal tax returns.

The final roll call on the first bill is here, the roll call on the second is here. Both enjoyed near-unanimous support from the same House Republicans who believe the United States is facing a debt crisis and that the budget deficit risks destroying future generations’ lives.

Combined these new permanent tax breaks will cost roughly $75 billion over the next 10 years. How much of that cost did GOP lawmakers try to offset? Zero.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said the costs associated with these tax breaks have “never been offset,” which is true – previous Congresses have just added the price tag to the deficit to be dealt with in the future.

But it’s also true that the costs associated with extending unemployment benefits have “never been offset,” either. And yet, Camp and his conservative colleagues won’t even allow the House to vote on jobless aid, whether the bill is fully paid for or not.

 House GOP approves more tax breaks without paying for them | MSNBC

Lawmakers Will Move Tuesday to Approve Hundreds of Billions in Business Tax Breaks -- and Still No Help for the Unemployed | Tax Justice Blog

Economics is not one of my strong suits (something I hope to change in the near future), but even to my simple understanding I find it very troubling that many (conservative) politicians insist that the national deficit is solely the result of excessive spending, and that huge tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy and gaping corporate tax loopholes are irrelevant to this issue.

The reality here is there has been a dramatic decrease in federal revenue due to low wages which equates to a lower tax burden on American taxpayers combined with many corporations not paying their fair share of taxes due to gaping loopholes. The net effect, a significant contribution to the current federal deficit and rising national debt

What makes this Republican push for these tax provisions so idiotic is the hypocrisy behind them. Remember back in December, when Republicans wouldn’t pass long term unemployment benefits without offsets; everything must be paid for they said. Well there is nothing "backing up" these tax cuts. Nothing, nada, zilch; a big ole fat 0.

Republicans are trying to do exactly what got us into this mess in the first place, with unpaid for tax credits (ala junior Bush) and give aways, after years of taking from the poor and the vulnerable in order to "pay" their puppet masters. The total amount of these provisions, these tax cuts, is five times more than we spend on veterans. It is more than three times what we spend on education, job training and social services. And it is five times more than what we spend on medical research/public health. Something is very wrong with this scenario!!
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Rep. Dave Camp, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, will take the first step to make permanent certain business tax breaks on Tuesday, when his committee marks up legislation that would increase the deficit by $300 billion over the coming decade.

The provisions are among the “tax extenders,” the package of tax breaks that mostly benefit businesses and that Congress extends every couple of years. We have pointed out that even if Congress simply continues its practice of extending these tax breaks for another two years, it would signal that these corporate tax breaks will likely be with us forever — which the Congressional Budget Office projects would increase the deficit by $700 billion over the coming decade. Camp’s move to make certain of the tax extenders permanent would make that unfortunate outcome even more likely.

Lawmakers Will Move Tuesday to Approve Hundreds of Billions in Business Tax Breaks -- and Still No Help for the Unemployed | Tax Justice Blog