Tax Reform

Here are a few of my thoughts on what to change:

The tax on interest from bank accounts and US savings bonds should be eliminated. The interest earned is rarely even enough to keep up with inflation and I believe hurts the middle class. But assuming this tax is not eliminated, those who shun the stock market in favor of long-term certificates of deposit should at least get the same treatment on their earned interest as a stockholder who holds a stock for more than one year and gets to pay a reduced capital gains tax rate.
The requirement for people to repay an Obamacare subsidy should they exceed a certain earnings threshold in a particular year is ridiculous as it requires clairvoyance to know how much money they will end up making that year. This rule not only incentivizes people to "stay poor" so they can keep their healthcare, but also could lead to financial ruin for those who should exceed that earnings threshold as the subsidy repayment could literally consume the majority of any extra money earned that has likely been already spent i.e. one could end up with a multi-thousand dollar bill at the end of the year that they didn't plan on or can afford because they worked too much. At a minimum, the previous year's earnings should be used to guide the next year's subsidy but on a phased-in schedule so as to encourage increased employment.
Mandatory depreciation – Why are taxpayers forced to claim full depreciation on a rental property whether they need that depreciation deduction or not? Why not leave it up to the taxpayers to decide how much, if any, depreciation they wish to claim in a particular tax year. Claiming full depreciation every year can often result in an artificially huge taxable capital gain in the year the property is sold which may not be in the taxpayers best interest.
The Qualified Business Income Deduction instituted in the 2017 as part of Trump's "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" was supposed to help small businesses but instead can actually discourage their growth. This is because this deduction begins to phase out once earnings exceed a certain threshold resulting in the effective tax rate approaching 60% on each subsequent dollar earned until that phase out range is exceeded. My solution is to replace this phase out with a flat rate deduction on the first TBD dollars of income.

Overall, there are just too many different tax forms and too many special exemptions or rules for very arcane situations (my previous example being one of them). Although in some circumstances I do believe the tax code can be used to incentivize certain positive behaviors or provide relief to some taxpayers in special situations, but I think our current code has gone way overboard.