Most people forget that when Ronald Reagan lowered taxes in the 1980s, he also eliminated many tax deductions.
The mantra of the era was “revenue neutral,” and the goal was to lower the tax rate, eliminate the maze of special interest deductions, and keep revenues to the treasury roughly the same.
It worked. I remember businesses complaining about not being able to write off the “three martini lunch” anymore, but with the simplified tax code it was much more straigthforward to plan for future growth.
Over the decades, the silly deductions have crept back into the tax code, and it is time for another pruning. Special interest deductions are nothing more than social engineering on the government’s part, telling people to either spend their own money the way the government wants them to spend it, or else the government will take the money away and spend it themselves.
Lower rates, and eliminate special interest deductions.
That was not a positive. Reagan was duped by the Dems. They knew they could always raise the rates when they had the power. Besides, giving out deductions to special interest groups is how politicians pay back favors. They never have any real intention of keeping tax rates low. It’s a giant con.