The Pew Charitable Trusts have launched the first-ever website of searchable and downloadable data on federal tax subsidies, known as tax expenditures. Tax expenditures are federal tax provisions that allow people or businesses to reduce their taxes by claiming deductions, exemptions, preferential rates, deferrals, or credits. Federal tax expenditures can also affect state tax revenue because most states use the federal tax code as a starting point for state taxes.
The new site allows users to select particular tax expenditures and find estimates of their annual cost from both the U.S. Treasury and the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation; view aggregate or individual subsidies for various sectors of the economy, such as housing, energy, or education; or view subsidies to business and individuals separately.
The site is part Subsidycope, a joint project of Pew and the Sunlight Foundation. Other parts of the site provide information on federal grants, contracts, and loans and loan guarantees. Its overall goal is to “raise public awareness of the role of federal subsidies in the economy.”
