Dear President Obama:
Ur Doing It Wrong.
We’ve examined your proposal to scale back the mortgage and charitable giving deductions for the wealthy. The predictable howls have already been documented by our friends at the Tax Foundation.
Your proposal tries to correct one of the bizarre by-products of our distorted, distended tax code by adding yet another layer of Byzantine complexity with unintended consequences of its own. We are not the first Wonk to point out that in a progressive income tax code, tax deductions are regressive. It is true your proposal would help address that problem.
An artist's depiction of the proposed changes to the tax code
For example, imagine that a wealthy family, a middle class homeowning family and Wonk the Plank all give $1,000 to their church. At tax time, the wealthy family will get an extra $350 back, ($280 if the Obama tax plan become law), the middle class family will see an extra $250, and poor, impoverished Wonks like us get nothing. Our tax refund would stay exactly the same.
Eliminating the provision for charitable giving, although politically unpalatable, is a better, fairer policy.
Sincerely,
Wonk the Plank
Posted by wonktheplank 