The mortgage interest deduction isn’t worth much because rates have been so low for so long. But getting rid of it just amounts to an income tax increase.
Flat income tax.
Personal exemptions should be worth, say, $25,000, so the income tax cuts would fall disproportionately on those who don’t make a lot. The other exemptions would be for retirement accounts and medical spending accounts. Health insurance would be made the responsibility of the citizen.
Eliminate most or all federal excise taxes, in particular, the retail fuel tax, replacing that example with a $10 a barrel tax on imports *and* exports of fuel (crude and refined), then eliminate the “carbon” BS and open up drilling. Prohibit state excise tax increase on fuel.
Impose a 2 percent federal sales tax, exempting food, but also defining food (iow, reform food stamps so that they can’t be used for junk food). Prohibit state sales tax increases, or maybe cap them at 5 percent. California for example used to have a different sales tax rate in each suburb, as I recall from my 1984 trip to LA.
“California for example used to have a different sales tax rate in each suburb, as I recall from my 1984 trip to LA.”
The situation with sales tax is similar here in the Bay Area, and probably statewide.