4 ms·
Or, revision and simplification. Reagan's elimination of bracket creep springs to mind. an AMT for corporate income might be a useful limiter. We'd like you to
by jfoutz 15y ago
Or, revision and simplification. Reagan's elimination of bracket creep springs to mind.
an AMT for corporate income might be a useful limiter. We'd like you to grant options, we'd like you to donate charitably we'd like you to do a bunch of stuff, but at the end of the year, we still want X% of your income.
- ppereira 15y agoI think that bracket creep has very little to do with simplification. If one plots the page length of the US Tax Code over time, that figure continually increases. Simple page count is probably more highly correlated with the complexity and arbitrariness of corporate tax. Tax brackets often fit on 1 page, are rarely litigated in court, and pose little complication to corporations.
- jfoutz 15y agoWell, according to wikipedia, simplification doesn't get full credit. Repealed laws are replaced with notes about the law so people can understand what was going on in an historic context. Furthermore, the 1040 got shorter from 1985 (http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--1985.pdf http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-prior/f1040--1985.pdf) 68 steps and 1986 at 67 steps, and 1987 at 65 steps. So, perhaps the litteral line count is constantly increasing - but simplification happens. you could, clearly, argue that 3 steps simpler is a drop in the ocean, and that's not without merit. however claiming simplification is impossible is clearly false.