FWIW

Or changing it to give people more use of their own money. That will never happen.

Trump did it... it's called a tax break... and it was quite successful too!

It put more money in people's pockets who in turn spent it on the economy buying many things!

FWIW

It wasn’t successful for everyone. People in California lost money because they lost the federal deduction for state income taxes.

Showtalk said...

It wasn’t successful for everyone. People in California lost money because they lost the federal deduction for state income taxes.

Actually, it was successful for everyone because it reduced their federal taxes. 

State handouts were not a part of Trump's tax reduction plan. 

Trump's plan was reduction in federal taxes. 

Were any other states besides affected the way California was or were those state handouts specific to California only?

Losing out on state deductions is losing out on state deductions whereas reduction of federal taxes is a reduction in federal taxes. Even if they lose state deductions, everybody received federal tax reductions. 

FWIW

Yes in theory but in practice, they lost overall income.  

But not due to the federal tax cut... when they pay less taxes they have that federal money to spend. So, where they lose out is not the federal level, but the local state deduction level. 

They got a government break, but the state penalized them for getting that federal tax break! That's a state problem, not a government tax break problem.

FWIW

It may matter to you but not to those who lost big chunks of money.

New York, New Jersey, Illinois, probably some others. But that's not the point. There are many ways to design a tax system. For example, the Fair Tax:
https://taxfoundation.org/fair-tax-national-sales-tax/

The fair tax is one possible method, and then there is the flat tax system. 

But whichever they choose, what needs to be done is to do away with the deductions. 

Most of those living in poverty or the lower middle class don't really have anything or much at all to deduct. The majority who benefit from the deductions are those rich elite who deduct millions disproportionately. 

So fair tax or flat tax AND no deductions would be the best solution.

FWIW