We’ve explained that the package that emerged last week to permanently extend several temporary tax breaks (“tax extenders”) and enlarge some of them would raise deficits — thereby putting more pressure on domestic programs for cost-saving cuts — while favoring large corporations and leaving out millions of working families. Following a presidential veto threat, the package now appears dead; but as lawmakers continue to consider options for what to do about the extenders, they should recognize another serious flaw in that package: nearly a quarter of its roughly $400 billion cost would have come from expanding tax cuts for businesses, not just extending them (see chart).

In particular, the package doubled the tax credit for research and experimentation, raising its ten-year cost from $75 billion to $151 billion. Making this and other extenders permanent without paying for them would be fiscally irresponsible; expanding some of them while doing so would be even more egregious.

Our report detailed the package’s main flaws: