Warren Buffet’s secretary is probably making hundreds of thousands per year, and is a poor example of the ‘99%’.
Of course the tax system is rigged for the biggest players. But every one of those tax breaks is someone’s idea of an ‘investment’ in industry. GE benefits from tax credits for windmills and electric cars. It just signed a deal to replace its entire fleet of corporate vehicles with Chevy Volts, getting a huge taxpayer subsidy in the process. Are you ready to cancel all those incentives?
GE doesn’t have to advocate for tax breaks that are just for them. It’s perfectly happy to have the tax break be broad and general - so long as it gives them a competitive advantage. The same thing is true of regulations. The reality is that large corporations like big government and lots of regulations - because they have the power to control and direct them at the expense of their competitors.
The U.S. tax code gives companies like GE all the breaks, but the small corporations cannot afford buildings full of lawyers and lobbyists, don’t have overseas offices to park their profits in, and don’t operate at a large enough scale to entice lawmakers to give them exemptions for building in their states. These are the corporations who take it on the chin.
The tax code is helping to build a corporate environment of very large players while stifling the creative energy of the small entrepreneurial economy. It’s a disgrace. But every one of those tax cuts and regulations has a champion with a rationale.
The average tax rate is closer to 20%. GE does better than most because of GE Capital, which does a lot of leasing (effectively giving your depreciation deductions to your lender for a lower interest rate).
Sounds like you can’t admit you were wrong.
Of course we could simplify the tax code but the tax code will NEVER be simple, no matter how much you want it to be.
You are confusing yourself. GE pays the corporate tax. Buffett pays the individual income tax. We can quite easily reform corporate taxes to close corporate loopholes and end unnecessary favorable treatment and AT THE SAME TIME raise the individual income tax rate and get rid of shit like the carried interest loophole.
Its not as simple as it seems to you.
Why would you give LLCs (a tax invisible entity) a special deduction? Why would you have a 60K deduction for couples? It would put a large majority of households outside the income tax system.