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Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
On para. 1, how is what you say consistent with the AMT, which removes the deduction for state income taxes?
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I can't be an apologist for the AMT. It's a ridiculous construct which should be done away with immediately. If the G isn't happy with the fact that tax breaks allow certain people to pay less than their "fair share" of taxes, which is what the AMT purports to correct, then the tax breaks should be eliminated or ceilings should be put in place.
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on para. 2, it favors the choice between sales and income taxes (or did for years). And why can't it "double" tax--we do it at the federal level alone, and it's done at myriad other levels as well, including by the states, who tax income that's also taxed by the federal gov't. I don't recall a deduction for federal taxes on any state income tax form I've completed (for at least four states).
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Historically, tax policy has distinguished between taxes on net income and other types of tax. I don't think the rule always makes sense, particularly in the case of allowing a deduction for state income and property taxes but not sales tax.
As for taxation at the state level, the states haven't chosen to offer a deduction for federal income tax and the Eleventh Amendment prohibits the federal government from interviening in that decision, as well as the Anti-Injunction Act.