The fiscal cliff

[username]

The rancorously debated "fiscal cliff" bill approved by Congress this week was supposed to be a straightforward way for the country to avert disaster, mostly by raising taxes on the wealthy.

But the 150-plus-page compromise legislation that passed the House and Senate is stuffed with corporate and individual tax breaks that have nothing to do with averting a fiscal dive. Inside it are billions of dollars in tax breaks for everyone from racetrack owners to Hollywood producers to California's alternative energy industry.

The recipients are, as the nonpartisan Sunlight Foundation put it Wednesday, "the sort of taxpayers who can spend millions on lobbyists and whose PACs (political action committees) and employees can give millions more to the campaigns of lawmakers."

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/F...z2GxdDvNtu