In theirlasTxBkcoum,WG.dPSOzgv’pf2013 Should the President’s Tax Cuts Be Made Permanent?

items in the Bush administration’s fiscal policy. All of the provisions of those tax cuts, however, expire by the end of 2010 and some expire earlier, including several that terminate at the end of this year. A prominent feature of the president’s most recent budget is the proposal to make almost all the provisions of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts permanent. This article evaluates the administration’s proposal, with the following con-clusions: • The role of expir ing tax provisions has changed dramatically over time. Expiring tax provisions (or “sunsets”) have long been a fea-ture of the tax code, but they have traditionally involved relatively minor provisions. Beginning with the 2001 tax cut, however, the use of sun