>> Well, Dave, it USED to do that. But since Reagan, thanks to Republicans, it's taxed the wealthy. very wealthy and most of all, the obscenely wealthy less, while taxing the rest of us more, on a percentage of income basis.
You don't know what you're talking about. As usual.
There was an agreement reached between Democrats and Republicans which called for a flatter rate structure, but removing various deductions. Most critically, it was Reagan's proposal which shut down the proliferation of tax shelters which were being highly abused by the very wealthy. In addition to the Section 465 At Risk Limitations -- which had already been imposed but were insufficient -- TRA86 imposed Section 469 which limited the ability of the wealthy to shelter income with real estate losses. Which was the method I, and thousands of other CPAs, used legally to keep wealthy clients from paying inordinately high taxes.
Reagan, and no one else, was responsible for that legislation. You can look it up; it was in the Reagan proposal, and appeared in the final legislation only after a negotiated proposal was accepted by Congress.
At the time, tax shelters were among the greatest concerns of JCT because even the At-Risk Limitation didn't get around the real estate shelter because you are "at-risk" on property that is subject to a mortgage, even if you aren't personally liable for repayment, which gave even limited partners basis for the debt making losses highly deductible. In addition, Reagan proposed and received depreciation limitations which made even property not subject to IRC 469 of limited value in terms of tax deductions.
So, what you said actually is a downright lie. Or just stated out of ignorance, I don't know which. Reagan did support flatter rate schedules, but he also limited deductions and severely restricted the ability of the wealthy to shelter income. Reagan did that. Not anyone else. He had to make concessions to O'Neill to get these provisions. |
