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U.S. Tax Reform

Copyright © 2004 by David E. Ross

With 15 April approaching — along with the deadline to file federal income taxes (and in many states, state income taxes) — everyone thinks he or she is an expert on how to reform the federal tax structure. I am no exception.

Other aspects of federal taxation need to be addressed but are not discussed here. They include:

• excise taxes that are supposed to fund specific programs — roads, air traffic control, et cetera — but are included in the general budget to reduce the appearance of deficits
• depreciation schedules unrelated to the actual lifetimes of the affected assets
• depletion allowances that encourage wasteful exploitation and exhaustion of non-renewable natural resources

I am quite sure that readers of these pages can think of additional aspects. Note that the subject here is taxes and how they are structured. The issue is not how those taxes are spent. Thinking about the federal budget and especially how Congress cobbles it together gives me a headache. The federal budget is off-topic here.

31 March 2004