TY  - JOUR
AU  - Burman,Leonard E.
AU  - Phaup,Marvin
TI  - Tax Expenditures, the Size and Efficiency of Government, and Implications for Budget Reform
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 17268
PY  - 2011
Y2  - August 2011
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17268
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w17268.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Leonard E. Burman
Center for Policy Research
426 Eggers Hall
Syracuse, NY 13244
Tel: 315/443-2692
Fax: 315/443-1081
E-Mail: leburman@maxwell.syr.edu

Marvin Phaup
Trachtenberg School of Public Policy and Public Ad
The George Washington University
601K Media and Public Affairs
Washington, D.C. 20052
E-Mail: MPhaup@gwu.edu
M1  - published as Leonard E. Burman, Marvin Phaup. "Tax Expenditures, the Size and Efficiency of Government, and Implications for Budget Reform," in Jeffrey Brown, editor, "Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 26" University of Chicago Press (2012)

AB  - One possible explanation for the difficulty in controlling the budget is that a major component of spending —tax expenditures—receives privileged status.  It is treated as tax cuts rather than spending.  This paper explores the implications of that classification and illustrates how it can lead to higher taxes, larger government, and an inefficient mix of spending (too many tax expenditures).  The paper then analyzes alternative budgeting approaches that would explicitly incorporate and measure tax expenditures. It concludes by analyzing ways to control tax expenditures (and other spending) and the special challenges presented by tax expenditures.
ER  -