Fox News niggles at the story.  Here’s a short list of tax breaks that are at risk of not being renewed (due to Democrats’ intransigence concerning cutting Federal spending, these tax “breaks” do increase the deficit), even though usually they are renewed early in the subsequent year:

• tax credit for research and development: saving an estimated $6.2 billion in 2013
• exemption that allows banks, insurance companies and other financial firms to shield foreign profits from being taxed by the US: saving an estimated $9.4 billion in 2013
• break allowing profitable companies to write off large capital expenditures immediately, rather than over time: saving an estimated $34 billion in 2013
• tax credit for producing renewable energy, including wind and solar, in plants built before the end of 2013: saving an estimated $116 million in 2013
• provision that allows motorsport race tracks to more quickly write off improvement costs: saving an estimated $46 million in 2013.
• tax break that allows TV and movie productions to more quickly write off expenses: saving an estimated $266 million in 2013.

And so on, for more than 50 such things.

Of course none of this would matter—and the associated lobbyists would be put out of work and have to find something useful to do, instead—in a régime of a low flat tax on all income of whatever source, with no deductions, exemptions, credits, what-have-you, that everyone pays.  And we’d have fewer market distortions from the social engineering folderol of the current tax policy.