You’re not exactly wrong on the merits of that tax expenditure, but let’s remember that these are measures the Republicans took so that they could get to minus $1.5 trillion. Later, when the economy sours (and, perversely, when the timing for it is worst), they’ll come back for spending cuts, and they’ll be targeting things like food stamps, unemployment benefits, medicaid, etc. Even if you think the politics are such that they won’t have that opportunity (let’s hope so), this political context needs to be considered if you’re going to honestly assess what is “good policy.”
