One Look At This Chart, And You'll Instantly Get Why We Can't Fix The Tax Code

Business Insider ^ | 11/22/2012 | Joe Wiesenthal

[SeekAndFind]

Hey, let's just simplify the tax code and eliminate loopholes.

It's hard to think of any statement that on its surface sounds less controversial. Eliminating loopholes means more revenue. Everyone likes simplification. Efficiency!

So why doesn't it happen?

This fantastic chart from Credit Suisse's Neal Soss is the answer. It shows the top 20 biggest "Tax Expenditures" which cost the government over $900 billion in the 2012 fiscal year.

Credit Suisse

So you want to simplify the tax code, what are you going to get rid of?

Are you going to eliminate the incentive to provide employers health insurance? Are you going to get rid of charitable deductions or pension contribution deductions? What about dinging the child credit or mortgage interest? Or how about clipping Social Security benefits for retired workers?

[bert]

I heard a great progressive admission recently. The man was describing the virtues of Cap and Trade.

The tax on carbon is paid by fuel users. Those are actually producers who pass the tax onward to customers on a per usage basis. That is everyone pays, even kids.

That means Cap and Trade is actually a scheme to extract taxes from those now paying no income taxes. The once removed payment device provides political cover and deniability for raising taxes on the poor. It can be argued that Cap and trade is in fact a fair tax in that everyone pays on the basis of energy consumption

[itsahoot]

10% flat tax on all income

Since the FICA tax goes into the general fund, I suppose you could say we already have a flat tax, in addition to all the current tax system. Ten percent would come no where near financing the beast.