Ways and Means (3.3)
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Ways and Means (3.3)
“These guys all talk about the deficit, but there’s not a single tax benefit for the wealthy they’ll get rid of,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s former communications adviser, later pointed out. “What really made them furious,” he said, “was when we started talking about closing the loopholes for private jets!”
Jane Mayer • Dark Money
Wells—writing on behalf of President Johnson—asserted that “the industry which this legislation is designed to encourage is actually less than that which will be destroyed by the passage of this bill.” Furthermore, the veto included strong statements against the type of special interest fervor which characterized the wartime period and would largel
... See moreThey were represented by a handful of front groups, including the American Family Business Institute, which strove to cast the tax break as necessary to preserve family farms. Unfortunately, in 2001, the group couldn’t find a single family farm put out of business by the estate tax. After Hurricane Katrina, the same group scoured the country to fin
... See moreJane Mayer • Dark Money
For the U.S. personal income tax, fixing the whole damn thing means that the whole boatload of exemptions, exclusions, and tax-free income clauses should be jettisoned. If the employer pays part of a worker’s health insurance premium, that’s a fine thing, but the payment should be taxable income to the worker. If a taxpayer decides to buy a $105,00
... See moreT. R. Reid • A Fine Mess: A Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System
“The only thing I have against taxes,” he’d said, “is that the people who should pay the most avoid paying anything at all.