Posted by Bob Lord
I have another post up at Inequality.org, Looting the Treasury to Benefit Big Insurance. When the Tax Code last was overhauled, in 1986, a tax preference that largely benefits wealthy taxpayers and essentially functions as a subsidy to the insurance industry was on the chopping block, but was spared. In this post, I compare the cost of that preference to the savings that would be generated by cutting the social security benefits of seniors and disabled persons through "chained CPI." Eliminating that tax preference / subsidy to the insurance industry easily could pay the cost of keeping social security benefits where they are. But unlike in 1986, eliminating that tax preference is not even being considered as an alternative this time around.