By Dan Morgan
Washington Post
House Republicans, under fire from the White House for writing
a multi-year transportation bill that exceeded President Bush's
spending limits, quietly tucked billons of dollars worth of
new tax breaks for business into the same bill shortly before
the House passed it overwhelmingly last week.
The tax provisions, which were added just before the bill
went to the floor on Friday, provide relief to big companies
from the alternative minimum tax (AMT). They increase from
$25,000 to $100,000 the amount of capital improvements
including investments in computer software that businesses
can write off as annual expenses.
The corporate AMT, which was enacted as part of a broad 1986
tax reform, is intended to ensure that all corporations
even those with extensive deductions pay some taxes.
However, softening the impact of that law has been a top priority
for some of the nation's biggest companies, including auto
manufacturers and computer firms.
Among other things, the changes approved by the House would
allow multinational companies with extensive offshore operations
to fully use foreign tax credits to offset their tax liability.
Lobbyists for small-business groups had fought for the expanded
write-off provisions, which would allow a company to deduct
the costs of certain improvements and equipment in a single
year rather than depreciate them over a number of years.
The combined five-year cost of the new tax breaks would be
$12.8 billion, according to Congress's Joint Committee on
Taxation.
But it was unclear whether many House members were aware
they were voting on the business tax breaks when they approved
the $275 billion, six-year transportation bill by a vote of
357 to 65. The tax breaks are unrelated to the transportation
measure, which funds new highways, mass transit and safety
programs.
The House Rules Committee, which reflects the policy of the
House Republican leadership, ordered that the tax provisions
be included in the overall bill and adopted without a separate
vote.
"This continues a pattern of increasing spending and
decreasing taxes," said Robert Bixby, executive director
of the Concord Coalition, a nonpartisan group that advocates
fiscal responsibility. "It was pretty astonishing. I
was expecting irresponsibility [in the transportation bill]
on the spending side, but I found it on the tax side as well."
Keith Ashdown, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense,
a nonpartisan budget watchdog group, said the legislation
could "push us further into deficit." The House
version of the bill must now be reconciled with a $318 billion
Senate bill containing at least $3.2 billion in new tax breaks,
including repealing the surtax on "gas guzzler"
cars, and other taxes on the fishing and retail liquor industries.
White House budget officials warned congressional leaders
last week that they would urge the president to veto a final
transportation package if it exceeded the president's spending
limit of $256 billion.
The White House has expressed little concern, however, about
the last-minute tax riders on the bill. A senior congressional
budget official noted yesterday that the president's own budget
proposed revisions in the expensing rules for small businesses
that go well beyond those in the transportation legislation.
These would have gone into effect in 2006 and cost an estimated
$33.8 billion through 2013, according to the official, who
asked not to be identified by name because he does not normally
serve as a spokesman.
To reduce the apparent costs, the House legislation envisions
phasing out the expensing rules in 2008 after a tax savings
to businesses worth $10.9 billion. The AMT reforms would be
worth $1.9 billion through 2008. But under the legislation,
they would continue and would net big companies about $6.7
billion over 10 years.
Asked to comment on the tax riders in the bill, deputy White
House press secretary Trent Duffy said the White House and
Treasury Department were reviewing the package. But he added:
"It's safe to assume that the president will support
the items that were in his budget."
Meanwhile, White House budget officials stuck to their criticism
of the spending in the House transportation measure. They
contended House leaders had understated the cost of the bill
by about $9 billion, and had opened the door to increasing
the spending in 2006.
The federal highway aid program would be halted in 2006 under
terms of the bill unless Congress redressed grievances of
28 states that say they pay more in federal gasoline taxes
than they get back in federal assistance for road building
and mass transit.
The Concord Coalition's Bixby also charged that the House
bill was full of "blatant gimmicks" that assume
the future phasing out of tax breaks in order to produce bookkeeping
"savings" and reduce the apparent cost of the legislation.