Opinion: Cutting the arrow tax misses the target

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

If you think that Congress is having a tough time nailing down the terms of a $700-billion bailout because of high-minded concerns about fairness, proper use of taxpayer funds or regulatory oversight, think again. Actually, it seems much of the horse-trading is over the amount of pork lawmakers can get away with inserting into the legislation.

Bloomberg News reports that dozens of tax breaks for a wide assortment of business interests are being added to the bailout package, mostly in an effort to bring recalcitrant Republicans on board. So, for example, Rose City Archery, an Oregon company that makes bows and arrows for kids, might be the beneficiary of a provision inserted by Oregon senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith to end a 39-cent excise tax on wooden arrows. Talk about giving taxpayers the shaft -- it’s mystifying how these senators think we’re going to pay for this bailout when they’re busy cutting deals on behalf of special interests.

Not all the new provisions are bad, and some might even be good for the overall economy, such as a tax break for movie and television producers who film in the United States, which would stem runaway production and thus might even raise overall tax revenues from Hollywood. But mostly all this deal-making raises worries about the future of a country that solves its lending crisis by cranking up the national debt and then reducing the taxes that will be needed to pay it off.