Washington , DC – The following is a statement by Keith Ashdown, Vice-President of Taxpayers for Common Sense on the Corporate Tax Bill:

More boring than War & Peace and more complicated than ancient Greek, the 900-page corporate tax bill is riddled with wasteful add-ons for almost every special interest in Washington . In fact, if you work on K Street and aren’t getting anything out of this legislation, you should be fired.

147 out of 265 provisions in the corporate tax bill were added since October and we still have dozens of amendments to debate. Some of the highlights in the bill include: breaks for big energy, ranchers, Oldsmobile dealers, horses, horse racing, energy derived from chicken poop, Hollywood , rail, shipbuilders, small planes and jets, the timber industry and the liquor industry.

Our experience over the last half dozen House/Senate conferences has taught us that a bunch of the offsets will be stripped in conference while even more sweeteners are added, increasing the costs of the legislation by about $60 billion. Many of the provisions in this bill are oldies but goodies whose proponents have attempted and failed to latch their pet tax breaks on to a series of previous bills.

This bill is the most outrageous example of political logrolling that we have seen for some time. There are more deals being made than in a Turkish bazaar and taxpayers are the tourists getting ripped off. Instead of just simply fixing the $5 billion illegal export subsidy, lawmakers have lined this bill with parochial tax pork that does nothing but bust the budget.

Any independent can only assume that this is a payback for Corporate America who has sat out the last two rounds of tax cuts by the administration. Despite record deficits, these interests believe that it is their turn at bat and they are aiming for a home run.

Here are the twenty biggest special interest subsidies added to the legislation that are either wasteful or do not belong in legislation dealing with international taxation:

1. Cruise Ship Industry
Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Senator Bob Graham added a provision that would provide the cruise industry a one-year delay in paying taxes on the airplane tickets, hotels, and other excursions it sells in the United States . The tax delay would save Carnival Corp $15 million and Royal Caribbean would save $8 million to $10 million, according to the Anchorage Daily News.

2. Tax Credit for Natural Gas Production in Alaska
Depending on the price of natural gas a decade from now, the proposed tax credit/price floor could cost hundreds of millions of dollars to the federal treasury. Conoco Philips is the big supporter of this provision and Senator Lisa Murkowski is their champion.

3. Tax break on Archery products – $8 million
U.S. arrow makers now pay a 12.4 percent tax on arrow components manufactured in the United States . But arrow parts imported from overseas are not taxed. The measure would also eliminate the current 11 percent tax on so-called youth bows that are not powerful enough to be used in hunting. The current excise tax on broadheads, razor-sharp devices that can be attached to the tips of arrows, would be reduced from 12.4 percent to 11 percent. Senate sponsors of similar legislation include Max Baucus, D-Mont., and Orrin G. Hatch, R-Utah.

4. Dog and Horse Race Provision – $25 million
This tax break was included to lure more foreigners to gamble at U.S. horse and dog racing establishments. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has advocated that the United States should eliminate a 30 percent tax for foreigners who bet on American horse races.

5. Conservation/Forestry bonds – $252 million
Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) asked for the Forestry Bond provisions in this bill. That proposal allows nonprofits to use tax-exempt bond financing to acquire forestland to achieve better balance between the goals of conservationists and the timber industry. Up to $1.5 billion in bonds may be issued under this program.

6. Small Aircraft tax break – $519 million
Sens. Brownback and Roberts inserted enhanced depreciation provisions to help producers of small jets and planes, 60% of which are built in Kansas . Some of the companies that benefit include Lear Jet and Cessna. The provision modifies the definition of qualified property. The new definition requires that the aircraft’s total cost exceed $200,000 and its development time exceed 4 months. The Internal Revenue Code provides that aircraft owners depreciate aircraft over a five-year life, while commercial operators must use a seven-year life. In the year of acquisition, an aircraft owner is normally entitled to depreciate the aircraft as though he or she acquired it in the middle of the year.

7. Oldsmobile Dealers
This tax break is for automobile dealers who sold Oldsmobiles, a brand General Motors has stopped making. It assumes significant transition assistance/tax treatment for over the next two years. The bill reads that this provision applies to “a motor vehicle manufacturer who announced in December 2000 that it would phase-out the motor vehicle brand.” The tax breaks are received off the monies that the dealership reinvests in his/her dealership.

8. Ranchers tax break
At the request of Senator Boxer (D-CA), this provision would allow farmers and ranchers a 30% tax credit on the purchase and installation of irrigation equipment. The credit would be targeted to areas that have received drought assistance over the last three years.

9. Credit for the maintenance of railway tracks – $492 million
This tax credit for railroad maintenance is not to exceed $3,500 a year and applies to class II and class III railroads, which are railroads with total revenues under $256.4 million. It was heavily lobbied for by the American Short Line and Railroad Association and other railroad industry lobbyists.

10. Taxbreaks for Railroads – $492 Million
Tax credits for passenger rail capital projects as requested by Senator Carper (D-DE)

11. Brownfield tax break – $191 Million
This helps investors that invest in cleaning up Brownfield sites. The provision makes gains and losses on the sale or exchange of Brownfield properties (potentially environmentally contaminated properties) exempt from taxes on that sale. The property must first be certified by an appropriate state agency.

12. Tax Break for trial lawyers – $282 Million
This break establishes costs incurred as a result of attorney and court costs paid to prosecute a claim of unlawful discrimination as a tax deduction.

13. Tax Break for Shipbuilders – $310 Million
Sens. John Breaux (D-LA) and Olympia Snowe (R-ME) requested this provision that allows shipbuilders such as Northrop Grumman to use a different accounting technique, which allows for enhanced tax treatment.

14. Special rules for livestock sold on account of weather-related conditions – $25 million
At the request of Sens Daschle (D-MA) and Thomas (R-WY), this provision provides tax-free treatment if farmers replace livestock because of drought, flood and other weather related conditions.

15. Tax breaks on Horse sales – $64 million
Shortens the time by 12 months before horse owners can get a tax break from at he gain or loss resulting from the sale of their horses.

16. Tax Breaks for Big Energy – $14 billion
Added to the bill at the last minute, the Jobs Act would add $14 billion of energy tax breaks to the bill. These includes tax breaks for every special energy interest in the country including oil, gas, nuclear and utilities. It also continues tax breaks for energy derived from chicken poop and synfuels.

17. Extension and modification of research credit – $9.8 billion
The $9.8 billion tax break for research expenses would give an 18-month extension to a research and development tax credit, originally established in 1981 that is scheduled to expire June 30. The effort to try to get this in the bill was led by R & D Credit Coalition, which includes Microsoft, Pfizer, AT&T, Dupont and E-Bay.

18. Tax breaks for Hollywood – $1.2 billion
Hollywood would receive $1.2 billion in tax breaks from several provisions. One of them allows studios to expense up to $15 million in the first year of production of small and independent films in the United States . Studios could expense an additional $5 million if a significant amount of production expenditures are incurred in low-income communities or in the Delta Regional Authority. The Delta Regional Authority includes counties in Alabama , Arkansas , Illinois , Kentucky , Louisiana , Mississippi , Missouri and Tennessee . The $15 million to $20 million will help keep television production and small films in the United States , according to advocates.

19. Tax Break for Sioux City , IA Hotel – $94 million
This provision would help developers who hope to convert the historic Warrior Hotel in downtown Sioux City , IA into low-income housing for the elderly. As more developers take advantage of this provision, the Joint Tax Committee estimates the provision could cost $ 94 million over 10 years.

20. NASCAR tax break – $92 million
Track owners have been battling the IRS over the tax treatment of their facilities, which defines how quickly they can write off grandstand facilities. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) is the champion of this provision.