A Halloween Horror Story: Tax Carve-Outs Edition

American Legislator ^ | 10-31-13 | Will Freeland

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

This frightful affair begins with a simple and mundane request from a colleague of mine who manages ALEC’s social media. He wanted to create a meme for this great image and had a seemingly simple question: what is the total value of tax carve-outs on the state and federal level?

Carve-outs are the ghoulish tax preferences that allow people and companies to get special treatment from the government and avoid the tax burden that they otherwise would have had to pay given their income or spending levels and their tax rate. For all but the chosen few, carve-outs haunt those taxpayers who have to pay higher taxes as rates creep up to raise a given amount of tax revenue due to the partial or total exclusion of a small group of their fellow citizens from the tax rolls. More troubling, the worst of these credits can cause huge economic distortions which have a vampire like effect on economy’s ability to grow and innovate. Just like subsidies, tax carve-outs often mean government picked winners and loser of the politically favored or well connected, instead of the fair and even outcomes of market processes.

[Eva]

Thanks for posting this. I never know what ALEC was. I have often heard it referred to by lefties as if it was a dirty word, like TeaParty, but I never knew what they were talking about and when I asked, they just said that it was some right wing organization.

[Eva]

Here is another article that may interest you as it involves ALEC, as well.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304527504579169853503880212?mod=Opinion_newsreel_2

[ThethoughtsofGreg]

Thanks for sharing, Eva. Turbin durbin is a complete buffoon, drooling at his chance to take away anyone’s freedom that he can. Sure am glad he isn’t my senator...but then again, mine isn’t much better.

[Eva]

Oh, Durbin isn’t my senator, his partner in most of the transportation bills, Patty Murray, represents WA. That’s how I know so much about Durbin, they have been working together.