Trump Is Right. 'Our Tax Code Is a Giant, Self-Inflicted Economic Wound.'

In his second speech in two weeks on the need for tax reform, President Donald Trump again made a strong case, explaining that “our tax code is a giant, self-inflicted economic wound.”

This time speaking in North Dakota, the president reiterated his four key goals for updating the broken U.S. tax system: a simplified tax code, a middle-class tax cut, a more competitive business environment, and the ability for business to bring home trillions of dollars of overseas profits. To this list of goals, I would also add full expensing as a critical reform.

The president’s first goal is “a tax code that is simple, fair, and easy to understand.”

To meet this goal, tax reform must eliminate tax subsidies. The tax code should not be used to pick winners and losers. That means tax reform should eliminate as many individual and corporate deductions, credits, exclusions, and exemptions as possible.

The current collection of privileges in the tax code make it so those who can afford accountants and lawyers to navigate the code are able to benefit, while every other American merely files their taxes and hopes for the best.

Cronyism in the tax code not only slows economic growth, but also increases complexity and makes the tax code unfair.

The president’s second goal is to “cut taxes for middle-class families.”

This one is simple. Tax reform must lower tax rates for individuals, allowing...Read More HERE