If you have a tax code, and that tax code can be easily 'adjusted' by the elected then you no longer have a real tax code, designed to pay the bills only. Instead you open the gates to what we have right now a 70,000 page system which is more arcane than any religious document. Right now our tax system rules how the accounting works instead of the accounting doing what it is originally designed to do - help the company/person understand and manage the business. In our system Profit is the money left over after all costs and expenses have been taken out. There are other tax systems, such as the flat tax and the fair tax which works differently. Basically x amount is charged anytime money changes hands. In both cases the elected love to mess with it. I tend to like the flat/fair tax because everybody pays something and its usually based on some kind of sales tax (there are several avenues for this one). If, for instance, something is paid, everytime money changes hands then the question becomes whether just the end users pay or gov gets paid EVERY time money changes hands. The goal, however, is to keep it simple and clean and so I prefer the EVERYTIME approach. I also think that such a system would go a long ways in cutting fat from the system by reducing the number steps between production and use to reduce taxes which is a lot better than what we are doing now. A good example of just how bad our current system is, is when a given company can pay no taxes yet get a tax refund (several of these have been reported this year)
Again, if somebody wants to do good works then they should go ahead and do them but not by using our tax system. Its to pay the bills and NOT for good works, helping friends, punishing others, etc. If we do overhaul the tax system it should be to pay taxes and NOTHING else! I firmly believe that anytime a tax system is adjusted for reasons, other than paying the bills, the result is what we have now. Its a slippery slope that has proven its disastrous consequences.
