Don't know what will be proposed BUT I'm sure that the swamp will not like it...

Was talking to RAS about Denmark making some changes...

Not a chance in hell any significant changes will make it.

I was done, to an extent in 1986
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Reform_Act_of_1986

But DC was less swampy then 

>less swampy

And FAR less wiggle-room financially.  We should have listened to Ross Perot rather than supply-siders.

My previous post was a summary of the articles I've read recently, BTW. I tend to agree, but I'm mostly taking a wait-n-see perspective.

What is the plan for overcoming well-funded special interests... that's always the problem.

Take the mortgage tax deduction as an example. George W. Bush put together a panel of economists from across the spectrum and asked for recommendations they could all agree on. They all said: mortgage tax deduction is stupid, regressive, puts all kinds of bad incentives into the system. The main beneficiaries are banks and realtors. Bush proposed it and the banks and the real estate lobbies came out in force and squashed it.

Planet Money gathered seven economists from socialist to neo-liberal to conservative. They all agreed. The mortgage tax deduction must go. Now Trump seems on board with a "lite" version (still deduct some, but less). But the realtors and banks still aren't. And, now that housing prices are so high in CA, representatives from CA are gearing up to fight it.

And yet... here we sit, still able to deduct interest on a million dollars in debt, including your second home!

Radical folk singer Phil Ochs had a great line about liberals that can just as easily and accurately be turned around to refer to conservatives: "Ten degrees to the left of center in good times. Ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally."

Everyone hates loopholes, except when it benefits them.

The other big dog that will be particularly hard-hit will be the charitable giving deduction. When the christian right figures out it's going to nuke their favorite corner church then they are going to raise holy hell (pun).

The Tax Break Dividing the Republican Party

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/08/tax-reform-gop-full-expensing/537114/

Another one worth a read:

Why Republicans Can't Just Pivot to Tax Reform

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/why-republicans-cant-just-pivot-to-tax-reform/535764/

Quote from: rcjordan on August 30, 2017, 06:21:44 PM
The other big dog

Yes, there are several. I just picked the mortgage deduction as an example of why it's so hard.

Good list of what deductions are on the table:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TAXES_DONT_TOUCH_DEDUCTIONS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Congress approval rating is about 15%

If Potus can't get the GOP MFs in line he just MAY make a deal with the DEMs

IMFO

BLS: Americans Spend More on Taxes Than Food and Clothing Combined

https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/terence-p-jeffrey/bls-average-family-tax-bill-increased-411-4-years

>deal

It'd have to be a HELLUVA deal.  It'd be political suicide for anyone in 2018. 

>Spend More

Yes, and the goal of this is to RAISE tax revenue. (But sweeten it by dangling 'simplication.' )

News is red hot today here as government proposed a new tax bill lowering taxes all around - even considering lowering our lovely 180% car tax as well.

>Not a chance in hell any significant changes will make it.

Echo that. Talk, talk, talk - no changes.

In another thread, Travoli mentioned his fear of the coming micro-payments for everything.  I'm already getting a good whiff of that hidden-fee-tax with our govs at already using tech like license plate readers to just send us a bill.