Koch groups: Don’t renew expired tax breaks in government funding bill

Two groups backed by wealthy GOP donors Charles and David Koch are warning members of Congress against renewing expired tax breaks in a government funding bill.

“We urge you to oppose any effort to insert corporate welfare provisions into the newly reformed tax code during the upcoming consideration of government funding legislation,” officials at Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Partners wrote in a letter to lawmakers.

The new tax law that President Trump signed last month did not address a host of expired and expiring tax provisions known as “extenders.” These provisions cover a range of areas, including renewable energy, motorsports and race horses.

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Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) offered an extenders bill in late December, but a mark-up on the measure has not yet been announced.

Some have speculated that the extenders could be renewed as part of a government-funding bill Congress takes up this year.

Lawmakers are currently negotiating over a short-term funding bill in order to prevent a government shutdown starting Saturday.

But the Koch-backed groups said that extenders tend to specifically benefit special interests and that renewing the provisions would undermine the new tax law.

“Including this corporate welfare in any deal would be a significant and disappointing step backwards that would weaken historic tax reform just weeks after it was passed,” the groups wrote.

“It would also send the wrong message to the American people and every special interest in Washington that it is back to business as usual.”