Tax Reform?

[kentuck]

Will this be an agenda of the Obama White House in the next two years?

I heard it hinted a month or so ago but have not heard about it since. I wonder how this might impact the agenda of the right-wing Congress if the President challenges them with tax reform? After all, nothing gets in their gears like the talk of tax reform.

I suspect this may be a very important issue in the next couple of years?

[Hawkeye-X]

1. My idea of tax reform at this point is that it needs to be reset to FDR

levels for the rich, triple the capital gains taxes, and seize assholes who hide their money offshore and send them to Florence, Colorado for life without parole for not sharing their fair share.

[kentuck]

3. I don't think Obama would go that far...

:-)

[LiberalFighter]

2. Real tax reform won't happen under Republican watch.(control of House)

Real tax reform would involve increasing the number of tax brackets.

35% 250k - 500k

37.5% 500k - 1 million

40% 1 - 5 million

42.5% 5 - 20 million

45% 20 million +

[kentuck]

4. No, but what an issue!

Before an election.

[dkf]

5. It's on the agenda.

[kentuck]

6. Do you have any details?

I am interested in what form it will take. Will it be more fair and equitable?

[dkf]

8. This is along the lines of what I've heard.

This time, President Obama is calling for a major tax reform that would greatly simplify the code, close many loopholes, and thus allow reducing the rate without increasing the deficit.

This proposal, on the face of it, has appeal to both sides. The GOP cannot reject out of hand a proposal that promises to lower tax rates. The Democrats, the progressives included, cannot reject out of hand a proposal that entails reducing deductions that serve only those better off (the poor do not pay income taxes, and most of those with modest incomes do not file itemized returns and hence do not benefit from most deductions). Indeed, the progressives can hope that the reform will lead to taxing income from investment at the same rate as that of labor. That is to say: rather than facing gridlock, this proposal has a fair chance to move forward, as both sides vie over how to shape it, rather than to block it.

Moreover, unlike the Dick Morris triangulation strategy, which entails doing a lot of minor things to give the impression of a productive, successful presidency, the tax reform proposal has the magnitude and imagination that could translate into a truly important reform, of both substantive and political appeal. The current tax code is so riddled with concessions to special interests, and is so complex, that it should be relatively easy to show to the electorate the merit of reforming the code and the scope and import of proceeding.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amitai-etzioni/a-new-test-for-progressiv_b_799664.html

[kentuck]

10. I think you are correct...

This is probably the direction it will go?

[dkf]

12. NYT story below has the goods.

He has the treasury looking through the tax code. :-)

[kentuck]

13. I don't think we should discount it out of hand...

it could be the political antidote to the Bush taxcuts.

[dkf]

14. Well we are fighting on a different playing field.

Instead of raising tax rates, eliminate tax loopholes.

I suspect the middle and upper-middle class may be hit hard by this. We have to go with the simplified aspect if we want to make the sale.

[dkf]

9. Obama weighs effort to overhaul tax code

Obama weighs effort to overhaul tax code
Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:44pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats and Republicans should begin a conversation next year about a broad overhaul of the tax code that would involve lowering rates while eliminating tax breaks for favored groups, President Barack Obama said in an interview broadcast on Friday.

Obama said any effort to streamline the multilayered U.S. tax code would be challenging but if successful, it could set the stage for more robust growth.
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"So what I believe is, is that we've got to start that conversation next year. I think we can get some broad bipartisan agreement that it needs to be done. But it's going to require a lot of hard work to actually make it happen," he said.
--
The New York Times reported on Friday that Obama had directed his economic team and Treasury Department analysts to study ideas for closing loopholes and eliminating deductions in corporate and personal income taxes.

The newspaper said the analysis of the corporate tax code was further along.

http://us.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6B92C420101210?ca=rdt

[dkf]

11. NYT story...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/10/us/politics/10tax.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

[rock]

7. I believe we are facing an immediate tax reform

I have been saying for some time now (ever since bush* spent like there was no tomorrow) that what the government spends, it must tax. There is no other sane way out (you surely don't want to print money to pay the debt, do you?). So those great many trillions that he spent and the fewer trillions that Obama spent that were not covered by taxes will have to be paid for by new taxes.

Now as to your question will it happen within Obama's next two years, I don't have a good guess, but I do know that it will continue to get worse until we stand up to it.