Budgetary Smoke and Mirrors

This is ... I think I'll just let the editorial speak for itself:

Tax Gimmickry Paying for tax cuts for the wealthy with . . . more tax cuts for the wealthy!, Editorial, Washington Post: ...To make their budget-busting tax policy appear less costly..., lawmakers are resorting to a gimmick that is even more egregious than their usual tactics. This one would, as usual, hide the cost of tax cuts that primarily benefit upper-income Americans. But it would accomplish that budgetary smoke and mirrors with a new tax provision, involving retirement savings accounts, that also benefits the well-to-do. And, to top things off, this new tax provision, while masking the cost of the tax cuts by bringing in more revenue in the short term, would in the long run worsen the fiscal situation by piling on more debt. No one who's serious about controlling the deficit -- whatever one's position on extending the tax cuts -- could support this dishonest approach. ... A Senate rule designed to make it harder to increase the deficit would be circumvented with a maneuver that would end up increasing the deficit. ... That's amazing -- even from this Congress.