Economist Dan Greenhaus—The most expensive tax breaks in the current tax code

Posted by Kendall Harmon

From there:
[Here is a list of]...the most expensive tax breaks in the current tax code, based on what those breaks would cost the U.S. Treasury in lost revenue from 2013 to 2017:

1) Exclusion of employer contributions for medical insurance premiums & medical: $1 trillion

2) Mortgage interest deduction: $606 billion

3) Deduction for 401(k) plans: $429 billion

4) Accelerated depreciation of machinery & equipment: $375 billion

5) Exclusion of net imputed rental income: $337 billion

6) Capital gains: $321 billion

7) Charitable contributions: $293 billion


Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Taxes • The U.S. Government • Budget • The National Deficit • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

3 Comments
Posted December 6, 2012 at 5:30 am [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]



1. Br. Michael wrote:

Well yes if you assume that government is entitled to 100% of your money.  That the government is entitled to 100% of your labor.  That is the government of tyranny.

December 6, 8:06 am | [comment link]
2. KevinBabb wrote:

I am shocked that imputed rent is even counted as a “tax expenditure”. As I remember from my college economics classes, “imputed rent” is a theoretical concept that attempts to measure the economic gain that a person gets by living in a house he owns rather than renting the house.  The theory is that the person has a certain return to the capital he has invested in the house, and that if he rented the house out, he would experience that capital return as rental payments, which would be taxable. However, since he lives in the house himself, the owner bypasses that (otherwise taxable) financial transaction.  I guarantee you, if the Government ever tried to tax homeowners on the money that people make by living in their own house, the people would be in the streets, with the real estate industry leading the charge on horseback.

December 6, 10:49 am | [comment link]
3. Creedal Episcopalian wrote:

Taxing net imputed rental income is just another way of negating the “privilege” of ownership of private property. Private property is anathema to communists. Expect to see this tax, shortly after this government confiscates your 401(k)s and props the Social Security Ponzi scheme up with them. To redistribute your wealth, they have to take it from you.

With no re-election pending, we will now see the PITWH’s (Progressive in the White House) true nature.

December 6, 12:22 pm | [comment link]
Registered members must log in to comment.



Next entry (above): (Globe and Mail) Conservative MP urges restrictions to sex-selective abortions

Previous entry (below): (The Economist) Muslims in France’s flaccid Moral Milieu

Return to blog homepage

Return to Mobile view (headlines)