In addition, TPC has looked at how the measures would affect households in various income groups and, using Joint Committee on Taxation estimates, how much each plan would cost the Treasury in lost revenue.

FORBES: What The Dueling Senate Bills To Extend Tax Cuts Would Mean For You

The scores cited below are 10-year estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation provided by the Senate Finance Committee.

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The costs of all this are far greater than the estimates conjured by the Joint Tax Committee.

WSJ: Review & Outlook: Crony Capitalist Blowout

Since 1997, employer-sponsored health care has exceeded the mortgage-interest deduction as Uncle Sam's most costly tax break, according to estimates by Congress's Joint Committee on Taxation.

WSJ: Tax Report: Is Taxing Health Plans Next?

The Joint Committee on Taxation by agreement with congress is not allowed to consider these behavioral changes when it estimates how budget changes will impact revenue.

FORBES: Blame the Joint Committee on Taxation not the CBO

Meanwhile, the Joint Commission--one of three regulators of office-surgery facilities in the U.S.--estimates that only 5% of the nearly 40, 000 physicians' offices where surgeries are performed have the necessary accreditation.

FORBES: Cutting Hospitals Out Of Surgery