Volume XVI No.30: August 10, 2012
Every couple of years lawmakers pass the budgetary equivalent of Spanx. Known as the tax ![\"A_Man_Throwing_Wads_Paper_Into_a_Waste_Basket_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_110206-162541-410053\"](\"https://www.gloucestercitynews.net/.a/6a00d8341bf7d953ef017744123239970d-120wi\" "\\"A_Man_Throwing_Wads_Paper_Into_a_Waste_Basket_Royalty_Free_Clipart_Picture_110206-162541-410053\\"/")
extenders package, this legislation has more (cost) than meets the eye, but it’s safely tucked away from view. Of course, when these \”temporary\” tax breaks get extended year after year, it adds a lot of bloat to the budget, and eventually their real costs bust out onto the nation’s balance sheet.
Rather than some thoughtful piece of legislation, the tax extender package is a hodge-podge of special interest giveaways. Everybody, from NASCAR track owners, oil and gas companies, rum distillers, and corporations that give their old computer equipment to charity, gets a piece of the pie. Some of these could be argued as legitimate incursions of the government into the marketplace, to encourage certain beneficial behaviors. That is…if they were ever argued. The fact is the extenders package is routinely adopted on auto-pilot, catching a ride on the 2008 bailout and on the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, for example.
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