There is so much bad policy in the massive two-year budget agreement being debated by Congress that it is hard to know where to begin. But here is a place: Why would lawmakers restore more than 30 special interest tax subsidies for 2017?…… By doing so, Congress creates no new economic activity and no new jobs. It is just passing out $15 billion in free money. Cash, by the way, that it does not have and must borrow.
Of course, that’s just the cost of a one year extension. If Congress extends these tax breaks year-after-year, as it has in the past, the 10-year cost likely will approach $200 billion.
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/terrible-horrible-no-good-tax-policy-buried-budget-deal
