One of the most significant things that Reagan presided over was the 1986 tax reform. Since then, the tax code has been gathering change after random change that leads to confusion, bad policy, hidden spending, and has become something only a high-priced tax attorney can figure out.
I’ve recently been learning a lot about how the tax system works and what needs to be changed by reading a book by one of the chief architects of the 1986 tax reform. He doesn’t use arcane language and not only explains what’s wrong but how to fix it. This guy should be in charge of tax reform no matter who the president it.
The book is called The Benefit and The Burden: Tax Reform-Why We Need It and What It Will Take, and I highly recommend it. Last I looked it was #38 on the Amazon list, so it’s not just economists who are buying it. 
I have no financial interest in this book, in case anyone thinks that’s why I’m recommending it.
Caleb Howe
Jeff Emanuel
Moe Lane
Dan Spencer
Dan McLaughlin
Oops! It's currently #28, not #38.
sharrondeer (Diary) Friday, February 24th at 12:17PM EDT (link)n/t
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. — John Adams.
Kindly disagree a little.
Viet71 (Diary) Friday, February 24th at 3:04PM EDT (link)Tax lawyer here. IMO, the 1986 Tax Reform Act (TRA) was ill-advised in some major ways and significantly COMPLICATED the tax law…to the benefit of tax lawyers.
One bad thing the 1986 TRA did wall pull the rug out from under real estate investors (by screwing with passive loss and depreciation rules enacted in 1981). The result was collapse of the real estate market and the S&L debacle.
IMO, the 1986 TRA was, to a certain extent, the work of rank amateurs.
Tax reform by definition has to change things
sharrondeer (Diary) Friday, February 24th at 3:47PM EDT (link)And what you’re referring to distorted the market by drawing investment for tax reasons rather than their being sound investments. Moral hazard and the taming of inflation is largely what led to the S&L debacle. The TRA stopped the moral hazard from continuing which, IMO, is a good thing.
But of course the point of view of a tax attorney is very different from that of an economist or what’s good for the country as a whole.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. — John Adams.
Agree about moral hazard, but the 1981 TRA said,
Viet71 (Diary) Friday, February 24th at 4:09PM EDT (link)“Here it is boys, come and get it.”
The 1986 TRA said, “Sorry, we’ve changed our minds.”
Good diary on an important topic.