The Washington State Budget & Policy Center's lefty blog Schmudget (Yiddish for budget) makes the case that tax breaks are not tax cuts, but are actually line item budget spends.

There are at least 567 tax expenditures in Washington state, which include a range of exemptions, credits, preferential rates, deferrals, and other tax preferences. In aggregate, tax expenditures cost Washington state taxpayers billions of dollars in foregone resources each year. While they are commonly thought of as tax cuts, most economists and public finance experts agree tax expenditures should be treated as state spending or as subsidy programs. This is because tax expenditures — also referred to as tax subsidies or tax preferences — have the same fundamental attributes as direct state spending on education, health care, and other public services.

WSBPC's analysis gives backup to Rep. Reuven Carlyle (D-36, Queen Anne, Ballard) who, chagrined that tax increases need to meet a two-thirds majority vote, is proposing legislation (that could raise money) that would sunset all 500-plus tax breaks on the books and make them—and any new ones—come back and be approved as part of the budget discussion. (Carlyle has not proposed his bill yet.)

WSBPC also provides a handy chart to prove an overlooked, but kind of obvious, point—just as general taxes pay for other people's specific needs, the general public is funding targeted tax breaks, keeping our tax rate artificially high.

The costs of spending programs for specific populations — such as supports for foster children or services for disabled seniors — must be paid by other taxpayers.  The same is true of tax expenditures, which is why most economists view them as tax subsidy programs ... [W]ithout reducing revenues needed to fund basic public services, the current 6.5 percent sales tax rate could be lowered to 5.3 percent by eliminating the sales tax exclusions on personal and professional services. The rate could be further lowered to 4.2 percent by ending all business tax expenditures.