Death and Taxes: Your philosophical argument re: Kinsley on tax reform reminds me of a similar argument concerning social ordering. I forget who proposed this, and maybe one of our many readers can supplement, but it goes like this: Society will be perfect in every way that matters to you and me. No taxes, no crime, no poverty (or whatever social order you want). The only catch is that there is one small, young girl, locked away in a dank, dark basement, who is barely fed, deprived of love, warmth and interaction. In order for our world to remain as perfect as it is, this girl must suffer, and more importantly, every one who is enjoying the fruits of this perfect society, must be acutely aware of her suffering. The obvious question is: Is it worth it? As long as you don't care about the young girl, everything is fine. But the moral ramifications are evident. Back to reality: given that taxes are unfair in one shape or sense to someone, no matter the construct, what is the best way to go about it? Hence, we have a multi-thousand page tax code. Can we apply Occam's Razor to this concept? I don't know. But shouldn't we try?