Tax Credits, Exemption, and Exclusions All Can Be Used by Governments

Tax credits, exemption, and exclusions all can be used by governments to reduce taxes. Consider a credit of $5,000, an exemption of $5,000, and an exclusion of $5,000-all to be added to the existing federal individual income tax. Which of the following statements is correct?

A) The revenue lost by the U.S. Treasury would be greatest for the exclusion, because such a provision removes transactions which would appear to be income from the tax base.
B) The personal exemption would save the individual taxpayer the most money because it would have the greatest relative increase over existing exemption levels currently somewhat over $2,000.
C) The credit will cause greater revenue loss, because it takes effect after the application of the rate schedule and directly reduces tax liability.
D) All tax reducing impacts would be the same.