Wednesday, April 16, 2003

Hurt Me: What's this, you show up only to slam my posts? I think we can agree that "tax reform" as it has existed for lo these many years has been a tangle of special interest watering, Clintonian "tax credit" fever, and complication in the name of simplification. That said, the one issue that Bush's tax cut does address, and the thing it can't do if chopped by the Senate, is to end the dividend tax grab. This is one of those tax code offenses, like the death tax, the AMT, and the marriage penalty, that has no justification. Worse, it is probably the most counterproductive of all taxes, as far as its impact on the economy, since it double taxes the productivity of corporations. The rest of the Bush tax cut is the same old monkey business: a couple of token rate cuts, some incentives, and other stupendously useless giveaways. Just the fact that Bush's principled position (which principle he promptly sold out in 2001) is that nobody should be taxed higher than 33% is maddening. One third of your income? That's not a exactly a brave conservative stand, is it?

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