Tax Expenditures and Tax Reform

This Review will focus primarily on the conceptual issues affecting the composition of the tax expenditure list and their relevance to current proposals for new tax legislation. In this context,the tax expenditure theory has been preeminently successful in shaping tax reform. The Review will not delve into the other aspect of Surrey's thesis, which calls for executive and congressional action to alter the budget procedure by integrating direct spending programs with the indirect tax expenditure programs and by adopting one amalgamated budget for the purpose of controlling overall federal spending. This facet of the Surrey thesis has not yet gained widespread congressional acceptance on the practical level.For those concerned with tighter control of the federal budget to reduce the deficit, however, this latest work amply describes and persuasively advocates the value of such an integrated budget policy.