Letter: Tax Reform is Overdue

What in your home do you still use from 1986? Most folks get new appliances, clothes, and vehicles when they break down, but the federal government is still using the same, old tax code from 30 years ago to fund our government’s expenses.

It doesn’t have to be this way. The U.S. tax rate, on corporations and small businesses, is among the highest in the developed world. It has become a dead weight on economic growth, as Americans collectively spend millions of hours navigating the 74,608-page-long federal tax code. That’s probably not what the Founders had in mind when they gave Congress the powers: “To lay and collect Taxes… to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defense and general Welfare of the United States.”

A majority of Americans would probably agree that maintaining the current system does little to ensure the “general welfare of the United States,” but instead serves only to limit competition and maintain an unlevel playing field. There are no simple fixes, but the President’s plan goes a long way toward streamlining the process and leaving the current tax code where it belongs, in the past.