Today’s hearing purports to discuss the benefits of permanent tax policy. I think we all agree that permanent tax policy provides certainty for all taxpayers - individuals and businesses - and is preferable to frequent short-term extensions.
But what is missing from the agenda today is any discussion of how to pay for making tax extenders permanent. The Republican tax reform proposal that was unveiled six weeks ago set forth a business tax reform plan that that made these, and others temporary provisions permanent, and did not add to the deficit in the first 10 years. In fact, that was pinpointed - even celebrated among some - as a hallmark of the proposal.
Yet, the concept of fiscal responsibility has now been left behind, with today’s hearing focused on making seven - of the roughly 60 so-called extenders -permanent, as they were in the Republican tax reform draft, without discussing the provisions that would offset the cost of such action.
We do not agree that adding more than $125 billion to the deficit to make these seven expired business tax provisions permanent or provide them with a long-term extension is fiscally responsible and should take priority over discussing the entire package of tax extenders. Fiscal responsibility cannot simply be a talking point that is set aside when it comes to providing tax incentives for the chosen few.
We believe that tax policy, including the work on tax extenders, should be done on a bipartisan basis. If the Republicans were truly serious about providing certainty to taxpayers, the topic of this hearing would be a full discussion of all the expired tax provisions and not just these seven business tax provisions selected by the Republicans to either make permanent or provide a long-term extension. Whether or not all of the provisions should be extended deserves a full hearing.
Instead, the Majority is moving ahead without any action on many important provisions. Among them: The New Markets Tax Credit that encourages investment in economically distressed areas, the Work Opportunity Tax Credit that supports hiring certain groups of workers, the $250 deduction for teacher classroom expenses that is of vital importance for schools and the itemized deduction for state and local general sales tax claimed by millions of individual taxpayers, particularly in states without income taxes.
Reforming our tax code so that it is fairer for working families, encourages investment in the United States and raises an adequate level of revenue in the near and long-term is of vital importance. Whether the policies put forward in the discussion draft will meet those and other goals deserves a thorough public discussion, far beyond what is on tap for today.
