Tag: tax policy
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The IRS needs more funding, not less
Cutting IRS funding sounds like small government, but the math points the other way. Audit yields, compliance, and tax fairness all suffer when staff shrinks.
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Wealth taxes don’t work and the data is clear
Wealth taxes sound elegant but have been repeatedly tried and repeatedly abandoned. The track record across Europe is unflattering and worth taking seriously.
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The IRS is bloated and ineffective, and progressives have it backwards
Progressives push for a bigger IRS, but the agency’s real problems are structural and self-inflicted. Here’s why more funding hasn’t fixed enforcement gaps.
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Dynasty trusts shouldn’t be legal
Dynasty trusts let wealth compound across centuries untaxed and unaccountable. They corrode meritocracy and the original common-law rule against them existed for a reason.
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Long-term capital gains should be taxed as ordinary income, full stop
Taxing investment income at lower rates than wages distorts the economy, widens inequality, and rests on weaker evidence than its defenders claim.
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401(k)s are a tax shelter dressed up as a retirement plan
The 401(k) wasn’t designed as the centerpiece of American retirement. It’s a tax loophole that grew into one because the alternatives got dismantled around it.
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Estate tax exemptions are a scam written for the donor class
The federal estate tax exemption keeps climbing while regular households are told the tax is brutal. The numbers tell a different story.
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Tipping is a tax workaround employers love and we keep voting for
Tipping started as a class signal and became a wage subsidy. Employers and customers both prop it up — and the IRS quietly benefits from the chaos.
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The mortgage interest deduction is welfare for the upper middle class
The mortgage interest deduction overwhelmingly benefits high earners while doing little for homeownership rates. The honest description is upward-redistributive welfare.
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529 plans are a tax break for parents who didn’t need help
529 plans deliver real tax savings, but the families using them are mostly wealthy. The policy is regressive by design and rarely scrutinized that way.