WASHINGTON DC (June 19, 2019) — The House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to mark up legislation to revive special-interest tax-breaks known as “tax-extenders” this week while also passing new temporary tax-breaks. The legislation appears to offset the cost of reviving the tax-extenders but not offset any new costs. As a result, the bill would add more than $100 billion to the debt in two years, or in the range of a half-trillion dollars over ten years if made permanent. The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:
"This plan doesn’t just bring these zombie extenders back from the dead, it multiplies them. They took already terrible policy and expanded it — creating new temporary tax-breaks that will add to the debt and carry a significant long-term cost.
"The tax-extenders are bad tax, economic, and fiscal policy, and most have been expired for a year and a half now. That’s why 12 organizations spanning the ideological spectrum joined together calling for Congress to follow through on its plan to end these tax-breaks by letting them remain dead. The last thing we need to do is give life to new tax-extenders on top of these and extend the ritual of writing tax-policy one year at a time.
"This package also violates the House’s pledge to abide by pay-as-you-go rules. While we appreciate that the old extenders are offset, the overall package would add over $100 billion to the debt — and it could cost five times that if made permanent.
"Rather than reviving costly tax-breaks and adding new ones, Congress should be working on reforms that fix the tax-code and reduce future deficits. At a minimum, they should avoid passing any further debt-financed tax cuts. Our national debt is already too high."
