On February 17, President Obama signed the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act," or economic stimulus act. We can debate until we are blue in the face whether the act will actually stimulate the economy. But the act includes nearly $300 billion in tax breaks that are already law. So these are developments you can literally take to the bank.
The new administration certainly appears to favor tax credits over broad-based reform. And while tax credits may be a more efficient way to target benefits for specific taxpayers, it also creates the sort of complexity that led former President Jimmy Carter to call the Tax Code "a disgrace to the human race."
