Tax Deductions

As we all know, politicians have a special knack for rationalizing their positions or in a more familiar phraseology, “putting lipstick on a pig”. It’s another way of saying that they are adept at making a dumb idea or program seem at least not so dumb and in the most extreme case, a smart thing to do. 

If that’s the bad news then the fact that it is a bi-partisan ability may be the good news. A radio news report about the tax deductions available for the purchase of certain kinds of vehicles caught my attention this morning. This was, it seems to me, a fairly reasonable concept when it was enacted since it was supposed to function as a stimulus to the economy right after the 9/11 attack. 

Now, over 4 years later, when the Administration tells us that the economy is booming again, we still have the deduction in place. If you buy a hybrid car, the deduction is $3,150 but if you buy an SUV that weighs over 3 tons the deduction is up to $25,000! Why, you may ask, are we still encouraging this kind of lunacy at a time when decreasing our dependency on foreign oil is a priority concern? I can see the continuation of the program for the hybrid cars and I could even sign on for a gradual reduction of the deduction on the gas guzzlers but why the big car deduction is still in place as it was originally enacted is mystifying to me. 

I think it might be fun to look for more examples of “pig make-up”. I’m going to set this post up in a special category on the blog and invite you to submit things that occur to you. I’ll publish them on the blog using fake initials to identify who they came from. Then we can see what kind of dialogue we can get going on this topic. E-mail them to me directly at paradigms@verizon.net and I’ll edit them to protect your privacy and then post them here.

Comments

[Susan]

You open yourself up for all sorts of fun with that request!

[Jim Brodhead]

Thanks for the thoughts Susan. I thought it had possibilities so that's why I put it up there. No takers so far though.

[Susan]

yeah, but you didn't show anyone my pig!

[Jim Brodhead]

Dear Susan...your pig is pending...pending a pensively pondered paragraph of peculiarly pithy thoughts.... worthy of such graphic magnificence...Do not fret, all things in time... ;-)