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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DMaA who wrote (243767)	3/27/2008 10:57:33 AM
From: Peter Dierks	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794009

The problem with simplifying taxes is that it would wipe out whole constituencies that have developed. One of the biggest impediments to a simplified tax structure is the tax return industry. They want it get more complex not easier. Another constituency is the "do gooders" that want to target tax cuts to favored groups. Don't forget that our current structure favors families that produce large numbers of offspring. There are so many people who receive special benefits who would likely be better off under a simplified structure but who will fight us tooth and nail for their "favored" treatment. "The current system encourages barnacles to form on the bottom of the economic ship. Imagine what we could accomplish if the millions of excellent minds now being employed in avoiding taxes could be harnessed to create wealth." Excellent point. I suspect that like most employees, those people who have developed a specialty in tax avoidance would fight to keep their status rather than risk losing it even though they would eventually percolate to the top of a more productive field if their was eliminated.