The article argues that recent executive overreach and politicization have severely undermined established norms of U.S. civil-military relations. To restore professional standards, the incoming Congress must actively exercise its oversight powers, moving beyond mere criticism to demanding transparency in defense policy and personnel decisions. Key reforms include enforcing meritocratic promotion processes, requiring documented justification for senior officer removals, and preventing the partisan use of the military. These actions are crucial for bolstering public trust and ensuring the military remains a nonpartisan instrument of civilian control.
Senator Wyden’s Data Center Tax Bill Mistakes REITs for an AI Subsidy
English Summary
The article argues that Senator Wyden's proposed data center tax bill mistakenly treats the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) structure as an unnecessary subsidy. The bill's key mechanism is denying REIT status only to privately owned data centers, effectively reimposing corporate tax rates on these owners while exempting publicly traded REITs. This creates a discriminatory tax regime where the tax burden depends on the owner's listing status, rather than the nature of the business. The policy implication is that Congress should abandon targeted industry penalties and instead pursue structural tax reform toward a neutral system that taxes all business income only once, regardless of the legal form.
中文摘要
本文指出，威登參議員提出的資料中心稅法案錯誤地將房地產投資信託（REIT）結構視為不必要的補貼。該法案的核心機制是僅對私人擁有的資料中心取消REIT地位，實質上對這些所有者重新課徵企業稅率，同時豁免公開交易的REIT。這建立了一個歧視性的稅收制度，導致稅負取決於所有者的上市地位，而非業務的本質。政策意涵是，國會應放棄針對特定產業的懲罰性稅收，轉而推動結構性稅制改革，建立一個中立的體系，無論法律形式如何，都只對所有業務收入徵稅一次。
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