Democrats like to use the tax code to divide and conquer, like the latest attempts to gouge those making over $250,000 per year.

The W.O.R.M. has no problems with this approach, as long as I can play too. Here’s my proposal: anyone who’s ever publicly called for other people’s taxes to be raised are not permitted to take tax deductions for themselves.

Think about it. Insist on increasing other people’s taxes, while keeping yours as low as possible, and you’re saying, “I’m being asked to do too much…you’re not being forced to do enough.”

For the record, philosophically I disapprove of all specialized deductions. With a flat rate, or even slightly progressive tax, a standard deduction would be fine. But the federal government isn’t authorized to use the tax code for social engineering. It’s for raising revenue.

Look at the rationale for deductibles for home interest loans. It was to make home ownership more affordable. But imagine that tax deduction was suddenly eliminated. Would home prices go up or down? Down. Values would be unchanged, but prices would go down.

Which would make houses more affordable.

What I’d like to make prohibitively expensive is meddling in other peoples’ business.

Eliminate tax deductions for busybodies!