Tax Code Already Exempts Large Amounts of Income, Unevenly

CATO | 2026-03-19 | economy

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English Summary

This article examines the current U.S. tax system, noting that while large amounts of income are already exempt from federal taxation, these benefits are applied unevenly across different household circumstances. It highlights how recent policy expansions, such as 'no tax on tips' and child tax credits, allow some well-situated families to shield over $150,000 in income while others with identical earnings face higher liabilities. The author argues that further layering of targeted exemptions risks increasing system complexity and revenue volatility, advocating instead for consolidating existing credits into a single, uniform deduction to ensure greater consistency and economic efficiency.

中文摘要

本文檢視了當前美國的稅收制度，指出雖然已有大量收入免於聯邦課稅，但這些優惠在不同的家庭情況下分配不均。文章強調了近期政策擴張（如「小費免稅」和兒童稅收抵免）如何讓一些經濟狀況良好的家庭得以規避超過 15 萬美元的收入課稅，而其他收入相同的家庭卻面臨更高的納稅義務。作者指出，進一步疊加針對性的免稅措施恐將增加制度複雜性與稅收波動性，因此主張將現有的抵稅項目整合為單一且統一的扣除額，以確保更高的一致性與經濟效率。

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