MORE ON THE TAX DECODER

I posted a few days ago about Senator Tom Coburn’s report on the complexity of the federal tax code.  Titled the Tax Decoder, the report should at least start serious consideration of federal tax reform.  That’s what I think, and at least one blogger at the Cato Institute agrees.  

I’m not sure when (or if) I will find the time to read the whole thing, although I know I should.  I will at least find time to read the highlights.  For the attention-span challenged, there’s a one-minute video about it on You Tube.

Some of the “tax expenditures” that are highlighted in the report are things I just can’t get that excited about, for example, the fact that Native American tribes don’t pay income tax on the revenues generated by their casinos.  On the other hand, Kevin Jonas (I think I know who he is) is highlighted as a “rich and famous” homeowner who supposedly rented out his mansion at $20,000 per night for the Super Bowl, but wouldn’t have to pay tax on that income because of a code “provision [that] allows homeowners… to rent out their property tax-free for short periods of time.”