Whether it comes with the fiscal cliff or a longer-term deal to restructure the income tax code, Congress will be looking at "closing loopholes" in the tax code. That also means it will be looking at popular deductions many of us use - the deduction for mortgage interest, tax-free health insurance and possibly even the charitable deductions. You'll probably be shocked to hear the hundreds of billions these popular deductions cost. So what tax deductions would you give up to help reduce the federal deficit?
GUESTS
David Cay Johnston, author of "Free Lunch" and "The Fine Print"
Kolleen Kelley, President, Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors
Cassie Palmer, President, United Way of Southern Nevada
Deductions make our ridiculous, inefficient, unjust tax system even worse, but to eliminate them would just add fuel to the fire of big government spending. Now, if I could somehow give up paying *taxes* in general, I'd be willing to give up a lot, nearly everything actually, if only because I don't think government provides much that I want or need anyway. Indeed, most tax money is either spent on crap, bureaucracy, things that don't need to be done, or is given to people that didn't earn it. So, let's go with a flat $1000/year head tax to pay for a modest defensive military and a few courts of law, and then call it done. Right now, I'm paying taxes for all sorts of unnecessary and ridiculous goods and services that by and large are consumed by others, and that is not just, deductions or no.Tom Hurst –Dec 3, 2012 19:06:41 PM
