In 1996, the Congress gave the President the Line Item Veto, which will allow the President to veto specific provisions of a bill without vetoing the whole bill. Tax and spending policies are continually changing to meet the goals of policymakers. The sweeping tax reform of 1986 represents the most dramatic change in recent tax history. Americans however, remain relatively apathetic about changing the present tax system. Public concern over the national deficit has prompted politicians to attempt to reduce public expenditures.
Several factors militate against successful reductions in many programs.
First, incremental budgeting produces a sort of bureaucratic momentum that continually pushes federal spending up. Second, most government spending programs cannot be reduced very easily because they were enacted by existing laws that no politician in his or right mind would attempt to modify. Third, Americans have become accustomed to large domestic spending projects but are reluctant to have their taxes increased. Despite massive government spending on social programs, the gap in income between rich and poor changed very little between 1964 and 1989. This highly unequal distribution of wealth has prompted some critics to argue that spending and tax policies are dominated by pluralist politics, which favor well-funded interest groups and the wealthy.