Would Campaign Reform Yield Enough Money to Refloat the Democrats?

This chapter examines the magnitude of federal waste to see if it is large enough to support major new programs. The enumeration of federal waste shows that eliminating it would provide enough money to finance large-scale increases in public and private investment and social insurance. Federal government waste is much greater than ordinarily understood. The 1974 Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act defined tax expenditures as “revenue losses attributable to provisions of the federal tax laws which allow a special exclusion, exemption, or deduction from gross income or which provide a special credit, a preferential rate of tax, or a deferral of tax liability.” Business tax subsidies are more complex than individual ones. The ability of securities firms to block an efficient national saving plan may be the single most expensive example of rent seeking. The Congressional Budget Office offers annual analyses of spending and revenue options, and their presentation offers many items that might qualify as waste.