John Chait writes in New York Magazine:
A few weeks ago, Dave Camp, the unassuming Michigan Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, did something nobody expected: He released a detailed plan to reform the tax code. Now, everybody was expecting Camp to release a "plan" to "reform' the tax code--that is to say some vague gestures in the way of closing unstated loopholes, combined with enormous rate cuts. Camp's plan is, instead, theNever trust a politician calling for tax reform. Real small government people talk tax cuts, never reform. Don't reform anything, start from where taxes are now and cut and cut.real thing. In order to pay for its rate cuts, it would scale back preferences in the tax code for home-mortgage debt and employer-sponsored insurance.
The first crucial ingredient to any worthwhile tax "reform" plan is a reform of the philosophic premise of taxation and legitimate government function in the first place.
ReplyDeleteSimilar to proposing constitutional amendments. Until we get serious about *adhering to* constitutions (federal or state), there's no point in proposing amendments to them. (Except for theatrics.)
There can be no meaningful tax "reform" in a culture which allows or promotes unlimited depredations by the government upon the citizenry. Any politician who claims or implies otherwise has a dishonest motive.