Quote:
Originally posted by bilmore
ETA - I'm mostly just opposed to all of the long-lasting efforts at social engineering that have been built into the tax code. While the efforts might have been noble at heart, we're just not very good at it, and we end up doing things to society that we didn't intend, and that are harmful to economic and social growth.
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While I happen to generally agree that the AMT is a kludge and I'm not particularly married to the mortgage interest deduction, isn't it inevitable that the code will be an exercise in "social engineering" and just a question of choosing your poison?
After all, before the income tax, we relied on some mix of tariffs, land sales, and excise taxes to finance the government, and all were hard-fought over and the subject of much debate on their social impact. The conservatives wanted to sell land dearly to preserve a cheap labor pool in the East, the radicals and democrats wanted to sell Western land cheaply to encourage upward mobility. The conservatives wanted high tariffs to protect industry, the democrats wanted lower tariffs so that good would be cheaper. I don't know how one raises enough money to support any government without having an impact on society.
