GOP Fights to Get More Bush Tax Cuts Into Budget

Anything that doesn't get into the budget will face even greater opposition as its own tax bill.

Keeping Score

Another tactic the Republicans are using to get more bang for every buck in the budget for tax cuts is to change how this tax bill will be "scored."

The Congressional Budget Office scores each tax bill -- or determines what sort of impact the bill will have on the economy. Historically, such bills are always evaluated with a "static score." In such a method, economists predict how the bill will affect the economy in the future based on the economy today.

But the Republicans are pushing hard for what's called "dynamic scoring," which tries to take the secondary effect of the tax cut into account. For example, an economist may assume that eliminating the tax and dividends will spur increased spending. In turn, corporate profits will increase, meaning greater tax revenue for the federal government.

"Dynamic scoring tries to take into account the secondary effect of the tax cut," Oschenschlager says. "The problem is that there's a lot of disagreement among economists as to how to do it properly. It involves a lot of guesswork."

Economists are notorious for disagreeing on theory and process, but that tendency is particularly evident regarding dynamic scoring.

It's worth noting that during New Mexico Republican Pete Domenici's 22-year tenure as leader of the Senate's budget committee, he opposed dynamic scoring, primarily because of the vagaries and uncertainties involved.

Now, though, Oklahoma Republican Don Nickles -- "who never met a tax cut he didn't like," Oschenschlager says -- is at the helm of the Senate Budget Committee and pushing for dynamic scoring. Domenici now heads the Senate's energy committee.

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