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It is apparently a valid definition because it is included in the BusinessDictionary, but "tax expenditure' has to be the silliest and most misleading/self serving definition they've come up with yet:
The definition of 'expenditure' at investorwords.com:
Definition of confiscate (vt)
Bing Dictionary
con·fis·cate
So we can all agree that taxes are confiscation of money/property that people have legally earned, yes?
A tax cut or deduction called a 'tax expenditure' is NOT an expenditure at all people, no matter how much the left wants you to believe it is. No check is cut unless a taxpayer overpays his/her taxes. It does not affect the budget because it was not budgeted to be spent in the first place. It comes out of no anticipated revenues. It requires no resources of any kind and does not take anything away from anybody who legally earned it.
A tax deduction is simply allowing the people who earn the money--those who are contributing to the economy and the treasury rather than taking from it--to retain more of what they earn. It is reasonably based on a concept that it is good not to tax people who have certain kinds of expenses usually to encourage more of such activity. And it is applied 100% equitably across the board without regard to race, sex, creed, ethnicity, demographic, politics/political party or socioeconomic standing.
A tax credit is quite different. It is money the government confiscates and then returns to the people. And if it is provided to people who didn't earn it, it isn't a tax credit at all, but is pure charity.
Tax expenditure: Revenue a government foregoes through the provisions of tax laws that allow (1) deductions, exclusions, or exemptions from the taxpayers' taxable expenditure, income, or investment, (2) deferral of tax liability, or (3) preferential tax rates.
Read more: What is tax expenditure? definition and meaning
The definition of 'expenditure' at investorwords.com:
Expenditure: A payment, or the promise of a future payment.
Definition of confiscate (vt)
Bing Dictionary
con·fis·cate
1.take something away: to take somebody's property with authority, or appropriate property for personal use as if with authority
2.take something as legal penalty: to seize property legally forfeited to the public treasury as a penalty
3.taken by authority: taken legally, or forfeited
2.take something as legal penalty: to seize property legally forfeited to the public treasury as a penalty
3.taken by authority: taken legally, or forfeited
So we can all agree that taxes are confiscation of money/property that people have legally earned, yes?
A tax cut or deduction called a 'tax expenditure' is NOT an expenditure at all people, no matter how much the left wants you to believe it is. No check is cut unless a taxpayer overpays his/her taxes. It does not affect the budget because it was not budgeted to be spent in the first place. It comes out of no anticipated revenues. It requires no resources of any kind and does not take anything away from anybody who legally earned it.
A tax deduction is simply allowing the people who earn the money--those who are contributing to the economy and the treasury rather than taking from it--to retain more of what they earn. It is reasonably based on a concept that it is good not to tax people who have certain kinds of expenses usually to encourage more of such activity. And it is applied 100% equitably across the board without regard to race, sex, creed, ethnicity, demographic, politics/political party or socioeconomic standing.
A tax credit is quite different. It is money the government confiscates and then returns to the people. And if it is provided to people who didn't earn it, it isn't a tax credit at all, but is pure charity.
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