That can and should be changed BACK to the way it used to be. These Reagan esque just became popular in the 80's. They sucked then and are worse for the economy now.
Reaganomics, what a bunch of bullshit. Friedman got in Reagans head and handled him like a puppet. Keynesian economics brought us out of the great depression and saw the U.S. through many prosperous years.
Some expenses benefit society. Should they be taxed? I'm talking about charitable deductions such as church, United Way, Boy Scouts, Good Will and other charities. Another thing to be considered is that some businesses are short sighted and if you don't allow them to deduct for certain business expenses such as upgrading, new equipment, research and other investments, also including employee benefits, employee wages, depreciation. What about expenses for new government regulations?
Maybe there could be certain charitable & business deductions, but the main thing would be to lower everyone tax burden and even ZERO for limited incomes, by generating more overall tax by taking away all the deductions/loop holes? It could be progressive too. I would continue to tythe and support WW's even if I didn't get the deductions, if my annual net tax was lower by a flat rate.
This part of my point to. The American people have always been good at giving and if we went to a flat tax of some sort and do away with loopholes, certain deductions and lower the rate per fam/income people would still give.
I'm afraid that most people deduct their church contributions as they should. But it would be nice to see them give the same amount from the heart.