Tax breaks are not immortal – but that doesn’t mean comprehensive tax reform is easy

Tax reform does not lack for supporters on both sides of the aisle in Congress, but despite this, it continues to be a difficult proposition. While many believe that tax breaks are especially durable, in new research, Jake Haselswerdt finds that, this is not borne out by the evidence. In fact, a tax break is more than four times more likely to be eliminated than a non-tax program. He argues that while individual tax breaks, particularly those that benefit businesses and the wealthy, are relatively short lived, more comprehensive reform to eliminate a number of tax breaks may be much harder, especially if it takes on the more durable tax breaks that benefit the middle class.