Cracking the Tax Code: Reform Should Make the Law Simpler, Not More Complicated

Cracking the Tax Code: Reform Should Make the Law Simpler, Not More Complicated

In her most recent report to Congress, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson notes that "tax expenditures" -- the exclusions, exemptions, deductions and credits that make the Internal Revenue Code such a bloated, bewildering behemoth -- total more than $1 trillion a year. She explains that she tries to avoid calling these provisions "loopholes" because that word has a pejorative connotation: "Policymakers use the term 'loophole' to describe a tax expenditure that they do not agree with ... and use terms like 'incentives' or 'sound government policy' to describe tax expenditures that they like."

President Obama illustrated that tendency in last week's...