More Loophole Lobbyists, Please by Thomas J. DiLorenzo

More Loophole Lobbyists, Please

by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
by Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Recently by Thomas DiLorenzo: The Official, Politically-Correct Cause of the 'Civil War'

Both of the major political parties in the U.S. long ago adopted the rhetoric of the socialist Left with regard to tax deductions. The mortgage interest deduction, the state and local taxes deduction, and all others, are denigrated either as "loopholes" that need to be slammed shut or as sources of needless confusion. 

A November 8, 2004 Associated Press story about impending Bush administration tax reform proposals gave a glimpse of the latest round of socialistic rhetoric to come out of Washington. The Bush administration, the AP reports, wants "to simplify the nation's tax laws" by eliminating tax deductions, but the AP warns that such proposals are often thwarted by evil "Washington lobbyists determined to protect special [tax] breaks for their clients."
In his first post-election press conference, President Bush said he wanted tax reform that was "fair without tax loopholes for special interests" and that was also "revenue neutral," i.e., would not cause a reduction in total tax revenues. Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, said the AP, favored "a flat tax that gets rid of deductions," while other "conservative" tax reformers argue for reduced income tax rates that are "paid for" by "eliminating or scaling back tax deductions."

To call such proposals "socialistic" is no exaggeration, for the underlying premise of all such talk is that the state has a "right" to all income that is produced, and that "loopholes" deprive it of some of that income and should therefore be eliminated. This is, in fact, the premise behind all forms of direct taxation. As explained by Frank Chodorov in his classic book, The Income Tax: Root of All Evil (p. 11), the state is saying to its citizens: "Your earnings are not exclusively your own; we have a claim on them, and our claim precedes yours; we will allow you to keep some of it, because we recognize your need, not your right; but whatever we grant you for yourself is for us to decide." Moreover, "the amount of your earnings that you may retain for yourself is determined by the needs of government, and you have nothing to say about it."...........................
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