{"id":1134,"date":"2017-06-28T02:27:57","date_gmt":"2017-06-28T06:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jparnell.com\/blog\/?p=1134"},"modified":"2017-06-28T02:27:57","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T06:27:57","slug":"just-cut-taxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/?p=1134","title":{"rendered":"Just cut taxes?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having lost the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, most on the left simply want to obstruct government, slow things down, and keep from talking about big issues like the economy, tax reform, and health care. Six months into the Trump presidency, I\u2019d stay they are doing a good job, and the corporate wing of the Republican party doesn\u2019t seem too concerned about it. Twice I\u2019ve heard their pundits argue that \u201cwith healthcare and all of the other issues on the table, reforming the tax code is just too complicated in the current environment, so Trump should just go for a simple tax cut.\u201d To this I say absolutely not<\/em>.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no question middle and upper income Americans are overtaxed. An across-the-board cut would help, but the real problem is cronyism embedded deep in the tax code. Corporate leaders benefit from the complexity of the code, moving their money around to minimize their tax obligations. Individuals do the same thing. There\u2019s nothing wrong with playing by the rules of the game, but it\u2019s time to change the rules.<\/p>\n

In a word, this means simplification<\/em>. It\u2019s neither moral nor productive to create artificially high tax rates, and then offer \u201cdeductions\u201d or \u201ctax credits\u201d to businesses or individuals willing to spend as Washington directs. These tax incentives encourage us to spend our money in ways we otherwise would not; if this were not true, then the incentives wouldn\u2019t be necessary. For individuals, this includes putting solar panels on your roof, buying an electric car, or taking out a mortgage. Engaging in these activities lower our taxes nd pass the burden on to our neighbors.<\/p>\n

But there are winners in the current system, manufacturers of solar panels, electric cars, home builders, and real estate agents to name a few. Industry groups seek refuge in the tax system and would be happy to see President Trump give up on tax reform in favor of \u201cjust cutting taxes.\u201d The reform threatens the benefits they receive from the current system. Productivity is the key to real economic growth, and we are most productive when our decisions are guided by what we believe is in our best interest, not what government has prodded us to do. This is why tax cuts alone are not sufficient. We need real tax reform.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Having lost the House, the Senate, and the Presidency, most on the left simply want to obstruct government, slow things down, and keep from talking about big issues like the economy, tax reform, and health care. Six months into the Trump presidency, I\u2019d stay they are doing a good job, and the corporate wing of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/battle4liberty.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}