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Tax Reform
This should have it's own topic as it'll be in the news at least through August (more likely December).
My early questions are:
1) What constitutes a "business"?
In theory, individuals pay the individual rate and businesses pay the corporate rate. But most businesses aren't set up as corporations. They're LLP's, partnerships, or other entities that pass their profits straight through to their owners (who obviously pay the individual rate).
Right now that doesn't matter because the difference between the individual and corporate rates is minimal. But if the corporate tax rate is less than half the individual rate, it will make a HUGE difference.
If there is no change, the choice of business structure matters a lot. If there is a change where LLP's and partnerships pay the much lower corporate rate, what prevents wealthy individuals from sheltering income in perfectly legal business structures?
During the campaign, Trump boasted of not paying anything more than he was legally required. Do we really want to widen that door?
2) What about the deficit?
Both the Reagan and Bush2 tax cuts were championed as "revenue neutral" as they would pay for themselves through economic growth. In neither case was that true and the deficit grew under both. That argument is being raised a third time here.
I'm not overly worried about the deficit but I know others here have expressed greater concern. I get that it limits our future options. Do we accept the 2x failed logic here or is the deficit only a worry during a Democratic administration?
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