Why is the Tax Code So Complicated?
by Jeffrey Miron on March 1st, 2010
4 Comments
Matt Yglesias claims at Think Progress that
paying taxes is as annoying as it is largely because right-wing ideologues deliberately make it as annoying as possible.
Matt’s view is that if paying taxes is painful, taxpayers will rebel, facilitating smaller government.
It’s an interesting view, and some evidence supports it, but overall I am skeptical. Are right-wing ideologues really to blame for the Alternative Minimum Tax, complicated depreciation schedules, green tax credits, education tax credits, phaseouts of itemized deductions, and numerous other features that attempt to promote a soak-the-rich, liberal agenda?
Categories: My Blog
Chee-Heong Quah
Of course the complicated stuff harms the poor, not helping them. The reason? Simple.
The rich can afford to hire specialists to avoid paying as much tax as possible but the poor cannot afford it.
The end result may be some employment for tax consultants and accountants helping the rich to avoid paying hefty taxes. If you think this does help to stimulate the employment, then perhaps it is a good idea.
anonymous
digging the new digs…what’s up with that armadillo trouncing around the background when you load the page in chrome?
happyjuggler0
Public choice theory says that the tax code is complicated so that politicians can hand out favors to special interests. It gets more and more complicated, until it gets so complicated that they massively simplify it. Then they have a huge slate with which to hand out favors again.
Neil S
Shorter Yglesias
Everything bad is the fault of right-wing ideologues (aka Republicans). Somehow, Public Choice theory seems to offer a more robust explanation.
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