WASHINGTON DC (February 13, 2019) — Some in Congress reportedly want to revive a package of narrow tax breaks that expired 14 months ago, at the end of 2017, known as “tax extenders.” The following is a statement from Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget:
Letting tax extenders expire was one of the few acts of fiscal responsibility taken by the last Congress. Now, just over a year after these special-interest tax breaks expired, some in Congress want to bring them back and throw the cost on the credit card. And they want to do it after Americans have already started doing their taxes, throwing a wrench in the returns already filed.
There is a reason organizations from across the political spectrum joined with the Committee in a joint letter last year calling for an end to the unpaid-for extenders process. Tax policy shouldn’t be decided one year at a time and one year late.
Having twice decided not to make these expired provisions permanent — in the 2015 PATH Act and the 2017 deficit-financed tax reform bill – the third time should not be the charm
Congress should not revive the zombie tax extenders.
