re: #394 Obdicut

It’s a good point, and that’s why CBO scoring is so important - but the CBO scoring also has its limitations. Namely, it has to do that the CBO can only score the effects based on the law as it is currently enacted. It can’t take into account changes that are widely expected or occur normally (such as the annual AMT patch dance), which affect revenue streams and the extension of various tax items.

What’s really needed is an overhaul of the tax code - tax simplification that not only clarifies the code for compliance purposes, but which makes it more transparent and easy to understand. I think there’d be agreement on eliminating the AMT if the top tax rate is higher than the 35 (or 39.6 rate) top rate because it would eliminate the need to carry out tax calculations twice to determine your tax obligations. Eliminate credits and deductions for high income taxpayers (leave charitable deductions). Big ticket items like mortgage interest and other credits should be phased out on a sliding scale based on income (and on years going forward - reducing until they are no longer available).

Where there’s conflict on tax code overhauls is whether the overhaul should be revenue neutral (compared with current IRC) or whether it should generate more revenue at present - which could potentially reduce the deficit if government spending doesn’t increase along with the revenue.

Some states have shown that they can simplify their tax systems while maintaining the same revenues, so it can be done.