We can only know that we will be denied one of the few remaining windows of tax freedom left in American life. The income and social security taxes, which together can rob America's most productive citizens of up to half their earnings, discourage work, saving, and investment, and act as a drag on economic growth. The words distortion and taxes are inseparable. Medicare taxes reduce medical savings. Excise taxes discourage production of the good being taxed.
Inheritance taxes cause people to shorten their time horizons and drain savings before death.
Nanny taxes reduce the amount and quality of child care. The average American works 171 days, from January 1 until June 20, just to pay his taxes. We hardly ever hear about this distortion, while the fact that people are allowed a little tax freedom when they buy a house causes a frenzy. It just goes to show, once again, that America has produced no greater crop of liars and scoundrels than most economists, ever anxious to give the government more power and always ready to offer a pseudo-scientific excuse to reduce our liberties. But he undermined his message by calling for the repeal of all remaining tax deductions, including the charitable deduction.