Senate Tax Reform Bill

Re that Senate tax reform bill: I’m for it!

As one in the “higher income” brackets who has often relied on tax shelters to minimize taxable income, I expect to pay somewhat more in income taxes under the bill.

So be it! Now I can stop cursing the waste of days spent in evaluating the income-tax consequences of every business transaction as the primary “go/no go” consideration, and business can return to principles of capital economics instead of unrealistic “tax-gaming.”

Because the manner in which most industries operate has been dictated by the tax code, there will be dislocations brought about by the Senate bill.

The greatest beauty of our open economic system, however, is its resilience to change. While it is impossible to forecast all of the immediate effects of the bill, we can with confidence forecast that entrepreneurs and consumers will find opportunity in these effects, and that the economy will find a new and more productive equilibrium.

To interests arguing that goring their oxen will hurt “protection-worthy” segments of society, let us press for an open (non-tax-obscured) economy, in which we can identify the truly needy, be in a position to subject their needs to open and explicit debate, and seek remedy that is clear in its application.

Let us support what may be the last real chance for true tax reform!

CARL G. HOKANSON

Encino