People think taxation is a terribly mundane subject. These are interesting, hopeful, yet precarious times in America. Notwithstanding the occasional market downturn, the U.S. economy is flourishing. Tax today is part of the tension between economic classes, but it could help to bridge the divide. A bad tax system makes for bad politics. This is perhaps the biggest flaw in the status quo. The present tax system is so complicated and unprincipled that the public abstains from any detailed consideration of it. The system encourages and enables complex hidden deals between politicians and special...

People think taxation is a terribly mundane subject. These are interesting, hopeful, yet precarious times in America. Notwithstanding the occasional market downturn, the U.S. economy is flourishing. Tax today is part of the tension between economic classes, but it could help to bridge the divide. A bad tax system makes for bad politics. This is perhaps the biggest flaw in the status quo. The present tax system is so complicated and unprincipled that the public abstains from any detailed consideration of it. The system encourages and enables complex hidden deals between politicians and special interests. Making the tax system simpler and more transparent might go a long way toward changing the woeful state of business as usual in Washington. The present inconsistent income tax encourages an odd personal psychology. It punishes ants and the millionaires next door, and it suggests that all become grasshoppers and die-brokers.