Bush Tax Cut Extension includes Millions for race tracks, rum and 1st time homebuyer credit (if you buy in D.C.)

Which part of the following was deemed

challenging for the President and the

Democratic Sheep in Congress?

You bury our grandchildren in $900 bil of
add'l debt for NASCAR, Movies and Rum!
Simply Insulting!

Taxpayers for Common Sense
12/13/10
Link to complete report

The last legislative trains are pulling out of Capitol Hill station and there are a bunch of hobo provisions trying to catch a ride. Whether you are for or against the grand tax compromise the President and Congressional Republicans hammered out, or the proposed final spending bills for fiscal year 2011, one has to admit larding them up with parochial provisions is the wrong way to go.

Top sweeteners in 2010 tax bill

The tax extension package being debated in the Senate does much more than meets the eyes. While most people are focused on the bill’s most prominent provisions—renewal of the Bush tax cuts, a temporary fix for the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), extension of unemployment benefits for a year, changes to the estate tax— it’s also chock full of dozens of narrow and special interest provisions. While possibly laudable, these narrow, “temporary” provisions are routinely extended, often annually, without a thorough evaluation of their effectiveness. Added together, these narrow provisions result in tens of billions of dollars in special tax breaks without any real debate where Congress determines they are the best way to spur the economy or meet other goals.

• Extension of Ethanol Tax Credits (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $6 bil)
• Deduction of State and Local General Sales Taxes (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $2.8 bil)
• 
  Research and Development Tax Credit (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $6 bil)
• NASCAR Tracks (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $40 mil)
• U.S. Film and Television Productions (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $162 mil)
• Rum Excise Tax-Puerto and Virgin Islands (est. cost to taxpayers in 2011 $235 mil)
• D.C. First-time Homebuyer Tax Credit: the bill also extends for two years (through 2011) the $5,000 first-time homebuyer credit for the District of Columbia.
• Full and Complete PDF Report

Conclusion

After Congress’s rejection of the debt commission’s proposal and continued failure to pass a single spending bill two and a half months into the new budget year, these end-of-year goodies makes one further doubt how serious Washington is about grappling with budget deficits for as far as the eye can see.