An amendment by Sen. Tom Coburn, R-OK, requiring a database of most federal spending to include information about recipients and values of tax credits was defeated this morning by a Senate panel.
The amendment would have added a major chunk of tax credit data to USASpending.gov, the federal spending database created as a result of the Federal Financial Accountability and Transparency Act of 2006 (FFATA). Included would have been recipients of any tax credits included in the current tax extenders legislation now being considered in Congress.
USASpending.gov puts anybody with an internet connection within a few mouse clicks of access to data representing about two-thirds of all federal spending.
Coburn was chief sponsor of the FFATA, along with then-Illinois Democrat Sen. Barack Obama. They tried to include tax credit data but had to drop it in order to gain passage.
Earlier today, the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., defeated the Coburn amendment to add the tax extenders tax credit information to FFATA.
The defeat came on a 15-9 vote. The only Democrat voting for the amendment was Sen. Tom Carper of Delaware, who was a co-sponsor of FFATA in 2006.
Tax credits are received by individual taxpayers and companies for a multitude of purposes, and are estimated to cost the federal treasury approximately $1 trillion annually.
