Commentary: Corporate tax breaks are exploding the federal deficit, but who gets the benefits?

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Business tax breaks cut federal revenues by $77 billion this year, fattening the pockets of rich corporate insiders.

The most famous quip ever uttered about the federal budget is the one attributed to Sen. Everett Dirksen (R-Ill.), who served 34 years in the House and Senate until his death in 1969: “A billion here, a billion there; pretty soon you’re talking about real money.”

Dirksen actually didn’t actually say the second part of that quote, according to the keepers of the Dirksen archives . But as a description of the hand-wringing that commonly infects budget negotiations in Washington, it’s well put.

At this moment, after all, the federal government is shut down in part be