Bill Thomas (R-California), chairman of the House Ways and Means Commmittee, indicated on Wednesday he would help the administration crack down on the practice of allowing corporations the ability to lease city infrastructure (including subways) in order to write-off depreciation deductions on tax-exempt property. Such a move could raise $25-35 billion over the next decade.

According to CQ, both conservative Republicans and urban Democrats are opposed to the crackdown measure, which would limit the scale and scope of the deductions. Wednesday, a group of 23 House Republicans submitted a letter to House Speaker Dennis Haster (R-Illinois) asking him to hold off on what they termed a "tax increase" and also complained that there had been "some discussion of applying certain tax increases retroactively". Democrats from large cities are equally concerned, as financially troubled municipalities in cities like New York, DC & Boston had been using the leasing system to sell their unused tax benefits in order to generate revenue.

The Treasury Department has estimated that $750 billion worth of leasing deals have occurred in the last four years, with approximately $33.7 billion over the next ten years directly affected by whether the crackdown proposal is pased.