Meanwhile, there has been no shortage of "tax news." Most of it is politically motivated rubbish. Team Obama continues to hype its class warfare fantasy that increased taxes on the "rich" will solve virtually every social, economic and environmental problem that has surfaced in the past decade. The political right has countered with its own policy lies and distortions. It's going to be a long year for us political independents.
I can't possibly "catch up" on the barrage of tax news clippings over the past 10 or 11 weeks. So I'll jump back into the fray as developments catch my eye.
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As I've previously observed, Team Obama is completely incoherent when it comes to tax policy. Sometimes, Obama talks the talk of common sense tax reform. Mostly, Obama walks the walk of a populist Robin Hood. Sure, he wants tax simplification ... but he also wants to expand tax incentives for "favored" industries and activities. Sure, he wants to improve the competitiveness of U.S. businesses ... so long as the government can use tax policy to shape the winners and losers in the domestic business landscape.
The President's fiscal 2013 budget proposal reflects his irreconcilable tax priorities: simplification; competitiveness; corporate welfare; income redistribution. The former two goals would be good for all of us. The latter two goals are good for politicians seeking annuities -- in the form of political donations -- from corporate lobbyists, unions, and other special interest groups. Martin Sullivan puts it this way:
As it is trying to promote tax reform [in its fiscal 2013 budget proposal], the Obama administration is defying the logic of real tax reform -- the economic logic that tax neutrality is best for growth and job creation except in extraordinary circumstances.In his 2008 election campaign, President Obama vowed that he would renounce "politics as usual." That empty promise, like so many others, was simply "politics as usual." No surprise that, come 2012, we're getting more "politics as usual."
What administration incentives hinder true tax reform efforts? A conversion of the already complicated section 199 manufacturing deduction into a two-tiered incentive. A temporary incremental wage credit for small business. A tax credit for investment in communities that have experienced a job loss event. A tax credit for moving expenses when companies move jobs to the United States. New tax credits for alternative energy to replace the existing ineffective and outdated ones.
This is big government through tax policy. The complexity of these new tax breaks is extraordinary even by the standards of our tax code... And as for the coming corporate tax reform, there is no more place for them there than there is for a fox in the henhouse. (134 Tax Notes 922 (Feb. 20, 2012))
Team Obama is not interested in, nor committed to, fundamental tax reform. The existing system creates winners and losers, and the Obama administration believes that the government exists to create winners and losers. Team Obama is very comfortable with the status quo, so long as it can influence the choice of winners and losers.
The media and the blogosphere will spill much ink on the topic of "fundamental tax reform" this year. The Obama administration will give a wink to simplification and a nod to increased competitiveness. But it's all about distraction in 2012. Any debate about "tax reform" takes some of the focus off trillion dollar budget deficits as far as the eye can see. It's savvy "politics as usual" from a master of smoke and mirrors.
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