The Senate Finance Committee holds a hearing today on How Did We Get Here? Changes in the Law and Tax Environment Since the Tax Reform Act of 1986. Scheduled to tetsify are five former Assistant Secretaries for Tax Policy:
- Fred T. Goldberg Jr. (1992)
- Jonathan Talisman (2000-01)
- Mark A. Weinberger (2001-02)
- Pamela F. Olson (2002-04)
- Eric Solomon (2006-09)
In connection with the hearing, the Joint Committee on Taxation has released Background Information on Tax Expenditure Analysis and Historical Survey of Tax Expenditure Estimates (JCX-15-11):
This document … provides a discussion of the concept and measurement of tax expenditures as well as providing historical background on tax expenditures.
Tax expenditure analysis can help both policymakers and the public to understand the actual size of government, the uses to which government resources are put, and the tax and economic policy consequences that follow from the implicit or explicit choices made in fashioning legislation.
Part I of this report contains a discussion of the concept of tax expenditures. Part II is a discussion of the measurement of tax expenditures. Part III discusses equity, efficiency and administrability issues in the design of tax expenditures. Historical data on tax expenditures including estimates of tax expenditures over time and a legislative history of new tax expenditures are presented in Part IV.
