Obama to America: those itemized deductions have to go – America to Obama: oh no you don’t

The battle lines have been drawn and it could get ugly. It’s one thing to tax millionaires, it’s another to go after deductions. Another third rail? 

Two days ago the President raised the specter of tax increases to cut the deficit. Actually he coined a new euphemism for that, “tax code expenditures.” Honestly, I have no idea where that came from. But even half asleep, I caught on the second time he said it. And he called them “cuts”. Damn, this guy is good.

But the real money line comes at the end where he takes a whack at deductions. Bad move? Gallup says Americans think so.

Hot Air points us to this Gallup Poll which would seem to indicate the President touched a new third rail.

Americans make it clear they want to keep common federal income tax deductions, regardless of whether the proposed elimination of those deductions is framed as part of a plan to lower the overall income tax rate or as a way to reduce the federal budget deficit. No more than one in three Americans favor eliminating any of the deductions in either scenario. …

Ed goes through the numbers and comes up with this.

Politically speaking, it will be almost impossible to eliminate these deductions, at least when keeping the existing tax system.  Unlike the corporate tax code, people understand their own deductions and how it benefits themselves and the economy without playing favorites or choosing winners and losers.   Cancelling the home-mortgage interest deduction would have a devastating effect on the housing market, which is hardly a beacon of economic health these days as it is.  Charitable organizations would get hurt in an elimination of the deduction, although probably not to the extent the housing market would.

Go there and read it all. Time to stop the madness and … err … tax expenditures?