Overspending through the tax code

Our current budget process already makes it way too easy for
lawmakers to overspend via the tax code. Unlike discretionary spending,
most tax code spending programs (or “tax expenditures”) are permanent,
unlimited in size, immune from the appropriations process, and ignored
during the government’s own performance reviews.

Rep. Boehner’s
(R-OH) proposal to replace PAYGO with “CutGO” would make these problems
worse by giving lawmakers yet another reason to overspend via the tax
code. In sharp contrast, a number of groups have recently advanced
proposals to curb lawmakers’ addiction to tax code spending.

My new op-ed, running in a number of McClatchy-owned papers this week, discusses these issues in more detail: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/11/15/1525991/not-just-a-tax-cut.html