This isn’t a new piece, but nothing has changed, and it seems appropriate to relink in light of the current discussion in DC.
5 thoughts on “Lies, Damned Lies, And “Tax Cuts””
Comments are closed.
This isn’t a new piece, but nothing has changed, and it seems appropriate to relink in light of the current discussion in DC.
Comments are closed.
Both sides of the aisle continually make the mistake — though it’s no mistake on the part of the Democrats — of confusing a tax rate cut with an actual tax cut.
Everyone has been using the term tax cut but even saying tax rate cut isn’t accurate with the tax plan working its way through congress. They want to shrink the deduction system but who knows in what ways since our media isn’t going to actually report on it. It is unlikely any predictions about tax revenue would be terribly accurate.
Some people will keep more of their own money in the lower brackets but its unclear how the top brackets will fare because they are the ones that get the most use out of deductions. People will look at the tax rate cut of 4% but then ignore the loss of deductions.
I haven’t been paying too close attention but have they changed from three to four brackets?
Chris Wallace was hammering the ‘non-partisan’ some group baloney on Sunday. I’m really sick of him.
Real needed tax reform won’t come from fiddling with details. The current code is too big a mess. Time to cut the Gordian Knot and start fresh, letting the chips fall where they may.
The IRS must have more than enough data on how people use deductions to have someone competent (not the IRS, or USG for that matter) to do an analysis to show how to produce a simple tax code that is revenue neutral. Simple in that it has no deductions, few if any brackets, etc. It wouldn’t be perfect, but with simplicity and predictability, people could probably get used to it. The main opponents would be the millions of people who make a living doing other peoples’ taxes.
The one big obstacle I see to a simple and sensical tax code? Not enough opportunity for graft or using it as a tool to manipulate people.