Fighting every special interest group over every deduction and credit is a losing, time wasting strategy.
Instead, change the AMT so it applies to everybody at all income levels. It should have the last word after all deductions, exemptions, and credits are counted such that nobody pays less than 10% of AGI or more than 15% of AGI. This way, EITC, Child Tax Credits, Solar Panel Credits, Electric Vehicle Credits, etc. *remain* but cannot be used to avoid a minimum 10% contribution to running this behemoth of a government.
All the same pain and complexity would exist for those trying to get down to that 10% level, however. At the high end, people wouldn’t be raped by the IRS for their successes by effective rates above 15%, no matter how high the marginal rates are. They could even bite the bullet, and simply pay the 15% without all the complexity. You can bet the “rich” will give up their tax benefits before the “poor”.
I just saw a survey that said 70% of Americans now understand that businesses must pass along their tax costs to their customers. So the time may be ripe to eliminate the Corporate Income Tax entirely. At the same time, extend the 7.62% Employer half of FICA taxes to apply to all labor costs worldwide, including non-wage compensation like health insurance, and including the embedded labor costs of imports.
Sunset all Federal regulations and reinstate only those that do not benefit or penalize specific businesses or pose barriers to entry by new businesses. Businesses should not be able to use the government to lean on their competitors. For environmental regulations, if a comparable regulation exists in another OECD country which imposes lower costs, then replace ours with theirs. We cannot claim to offer a competitive platform to industries when other countries offer lower regulatory costs.
“Sunset all Federal regulations”
I think all laws should have some sort of sunset provision. Our founders thought that our liberty would be safe if laws required the House, Senate and president to agree before it became law. Unfortunately repealing a law ALSO requires the House, Senate and President to agree.
Also, our founders were so fearful of a standing army, they insisted that all appropriations for the military were limited to TWO years. How about that for all appropriations? Why should our liberty be infringed just because the congress of 2009 decided to pass an ongoing healthcare bill with its own separate appropriation? Don’t our current appropriation schemes have as much if not more power than a standing army?