AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SECTION OF TAXATION英文资料.pdfVIP

ABA Section of Taxation White Paper: Statement of Policy Favoring Tax Simplicity, Stability, and Transparency Page 1 of 4 AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION SECTION OF TAXATION Statement of Policy Favoring Tax Simplicity, Stability, and Transparency The American Bar Association Section of Taxation (the “Section”) has a long history of advocacy for simplicity, stability, and transparency in our tax laws. At the Section’s urging, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association has adopted policies supporting these principles. Significant policies approved by the House of Delegates include the following: • 1976 and 1985 policies advocating tax simplification through adoption of a comprehensive and stable income tax base and accompanying rate reductions; • A 1974 policy advocating inflation indexing of tax brackets, exemptions, and caps; • A 1999 policy advocating repeal of the personal exemption and itemized deduction phaseouts, including advocacy of explicit rate adjustments as a more transparent approach to the “stealth tax” rate adjustments created by phaseouts; and • A 2004 policy advocating repeal of the individual alternative minimum tax. Simplicity Simplicity in income taxation requires an over-arching bias against delivery of rewards and punishments through the tax system. The core, preferred approach should be an income tax base focused on the measurement of economic income, with due regard for ease of compliance, ease of administration, economic efficiency, and similar treatment for similar taxpayers. Following this approach for individuals whose incomes are limited to wages and a modest amount of investment income would create, for most of t