Author raises a lot of good points but fails to mention CEO pay gap that was introduced in Clinton era. That started all of this madness with stock compensation
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/111th_United_States_Congress
and yet
January 29, 2009: Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–2
February 4, 2009: Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act (SCHIP), Pub.L. 111–3
February 17, 2009: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), Pub.L. 111–5
March 11, 2009: Omnibus Appropriations Act, 2009, Pub.L. 111–8
March 30, 2009: Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–11
April 21, 2009: Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, Pub.L. 111–13
May 20, 2009: Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–21
May 20, 2009: Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–22
May 22, 2009: Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–23
May 22, 2009: Credit CARD Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–24
June 22, 2009: Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act, as Division A of Pub.L. 111–31
June 24, 2009: Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2009 including the Car Allowance Rebate System (Cash for Clunkers), Pub.L. 111–32
October 28, 2009: National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, Pub.L. 111–84
November 6, 2009: Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, Pub.L. 111–92
December 16, 2009: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010, Pub.L. 111–117
1. remove these tax preferences.
if we wanted to retain some of the incentive for startups, we could phase out the tax benefits based on the valuation of the company at time of grant. so a grant of stock options for a $1MM startup might grant you a tax preference, but not for a (mid-sized) $100MM company. (however, phase-outs need to be continuous functions to remove the gaming potential, and politicians hate that.)
2. remove the tax advantage of debt
3. remove carry-forward/-back losses
4. remove the separate capital gains/carried interest rates and all related exemptions (like 409's)
5. remove accelerated depreciation/amortization
and more. in short, remove tax loopholes, thereby dramatically simplifying the tax code.
it's pretty easy to slip in such small, innocuous-seeming riders without much pushback because it takes more than cursory economic knowledge and real interest to work out the first-order effect, nevermind the higher order ones, or even pick them out of huge, drab appropriations bills in the first place. there doesn't seem to be a valued constituency on the other side to push through counteracting legislation however.