TAX EXPENDITURES IN THE FEDERAL EXCISE TAX SYSTEM

Federal excise taxes contain tax expenditure provisions analogous to the tax expenditures imbedded in individual and corporate income taxation. These provisions generate revenue losses from exemptions or reduced tax rates for particular groups of producers or consumers of commodities and services otherwise subject to excise taxation. The 244 tax expenditure provisions identified here are deviations from the "normal structure" of nine different types of excise taxes. Theoretical issues involved in estimating resulting revenue losses are discussed, but estimates of revenue losses and studies of the efficiency of these tax expenditures in accomplishing fiscal objectives remain subjects for future research.