What's Right About Taxes
For those despairing about the growing injustices in our tax code -- and threats of more on the way -- our friend Max Sawicky of the Economic Policy Institute has a good column up about what's right with the income tax.
Given the political forces at work, it's amazing we still have an income tax as progressive as it is (which, as he notes, reached its apex with the "base-broadening achieved under the Tax Reform Act of 1986").
Max agrees that the income tax could be improved and simplified, and gives hints about how. But there's also such a thing as too much cynicism about taxes, which over the last 20 years has only fueled political efforts to undermine the system's progressive features.
As Max puts it, "So weep not for the income tax. Rather, be wary of those who have been fixing it."
Given the political forces at work, it's amazing we still have an income tax as progressive as it is (which, as he notes, reached its apex with the "base-broadening achieved under the Tax Reform Act of 1986").
Max agrees that the income tax could be improved and simplified, and gives hints about how. But there's also such a thing as too much cynicism about taxes, which over the last 20 years has only fueled political efforts to undermine the system's progressive features.
As Max puts it, "So weep not for the income tax. Rather, be wary of those who have been fixing it."
1 Comments:
Just look at the places where you don't pay income tax: Saudi Arabia, Iran, Soviet Russia...
The essence of democracy is you own your government, just like you own your home. You can move into a cheaper home that doesn't cost as much in upkeep, and you can live under a bridge for free, but do you really want to do that?
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