Writerbuckeye;839213 wrote:If they're going to do away with "loopholes" like mortgage interest deductions and deductions for medical expenses and charitable giving, they better damn well lower the overall rates SIGNIFICANTLY to make it worthwhile for most of us who rely heavily on those deductions to reduce our tax liability.
I'd have to see some actual numbers before I'd back a plan like that.
Oh gracious no. The mortgage interest deduction would be catastrophically stupid to eliminate, at least on anything below 400k in principle. If you eliminate that, I think it might be tough for most people even to have enough deductions to itemize. Medical expenses are safe, too, because of all the retirees. I'm referring to various corporate and other specialized loopholes.
And, I'm sorry, but nobody should be getting cut a check by the govt if they don't have any tax liability. Taking away the mortgage deduction, regardless of any other offsets, would simply destroy another 20-30% of home values, at least theoretically but in practice that may not be the case if it's offset elsewhere. Otherwise, eliminating that and other deductions and increasing the standard deduction might be nice (especially for those who rent!), so long as it doesn't involve checks to negative liability folks.
As far as corporate, it scares me when economically ignorant people in Washington run around waving tax hikes for companies like some magic bullet. There are loopholes, and then there are things like interest deductions, loss carry forwards and depreciation that just as much as being bad for corporate investment, could send bad shockwaves through the markets. Recoveries have normally been closely linked with performance of the market, and any tax policy that might destroy market values (on average, I thnk we can handle winners and losers) would be horrible for the larger economy.
