Reforming the ‘Glorious Privilege’
Why the tax code is like daytime television.
by George F. Will
NewsWeek, June 04, 2010
newsweek.com
Wyden-Gregg --- a good start on tax reform:
the recovery still fragile, and unsustainable deficits looming, Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) are striding onto the dark and bloody ground of tax policy, which their proposal would improve. That is faint praise because the tax code is like daytime television—almost anything done to it would improve it. But the Wyden-Gregg proposal deserves robust praise.
Their approach is orthodox — pay for lower rates by broadening the base, and do that by eliminating most of the almost 10,000 complexities (deductions, credits, and other preferences) that distort the economic decisions of individuals and businesses. Individuals and couples with incomes up to $200,000 would do better, or no worse, under Wyden-Gregg than under current law.
Wyden-Gregg would reduce the number of income-tax brackets to three—15, 25, and 35 percent—and would cut the corporate tax rate, currently the second highest in the industrial world (it is lower than Japan’s), to 24 percent. More than 95 percent of small businesses—those with gross annual receipts of less than $1 million, which are crucial to creating jobs—would be allowed to expense all equipment and inventory costs in a single year.
Also, Wyden-Gregg would encourage personal saving in a nation in which almost a third of all households have no retirement savings. It would enable a married couple to contribute up to $14,000 a year to tax-favored retirement and savings accounts.... |
