Tax "Simplification" According to Bush

Read anything about the proposals for tax simplification? You probably should. If you're a homeowner, pay health insurance or if you pay State and Local taxes, you stand to lose big. Of course, if you're a trust fund baby or other fat cat getting most of their income from dividends, you stand to gain. Once again our Obfuscator in Chief protects his base and his ass(ets) at the expense of the middle- and lower-class.

In return, you get a simpler tax form.

The increases are designed to offset the elimination of a true abomination, the Alternative Minimum Tax. The abominable thing about it isn't its intent, to snare those who can afford enough tax shelters to avoid paying their fair share of taxes, but its execution. There was no adjustment to the AMT for inflation; therefore, more and more middle-class taxpayers are being snared by the tax. So instead of adjusting the AMT threshold upward to go after the would-be cheats, they're throwing it out in favor of.... You got it, taxing those of us who don't make multi-thousand dollar contributions to Republican campaigns and Neocon issues.

The right to bitch carries with it the obligation to act so here are some of my ideas: Keep the State and Local exemptions to avoid double taxation, paying Federal income tax on money paid in taxes. Keep the mortgage interest and student loan deductions but phase both out as incomes pass a threshold. I don't see giving someone an exemption for interest on their $500,000 McMansion but someone paying a $200,000 mortgage probably could use the money. Likewise, health insurance premiums should be kept deductable while being phased out in favor of something more like the German health care system. Tax dividends and capital gains as ordinary income. If you're getting a significant portion of your income from either, you can probably afford it and if you really want to avoid cheating retirees, make a portion of dividends and capital gains free of tax to those over their full Social Security retirement age. To avoid the so-called "double taxation" of business, eliminate the corporate tax instead. The profits of the corporation go to the shareholder and the corporate taxes are paid by the user of the corporation's products and services. Of course, this would remove an entire parasitic class, tax accountants, from business payrolls but it should lower prices. Repeal the Bush tax cuts. All they've done is finance more McMansions, SUVs and Exurban sprawl. Finally, close up the loopholes, for example, the ones that pay people to drive gas-guzzling SUV's.

I don't believe any of us really object to paying our fair share of the tax load. What we object to is the perception that we're being unduly burdened while those with the means are being freed of tax liability. The proposals being considered simply shift more of the tax burden farther down the income ladder, unfairly taxing the middle class while benefiting the rich. I have nothing aginst the rich, I would like to be rich some day, but the rich should not get a free ride at the expense of the middle class.