I'm of the mind that the tax system should be progressive, but that the marginal rates shouldn't be so easy to manipulate. That is, income is income and the tax rate is the tax rate. Tax breaks give specific industries huge gifts that I see as unfair to everyone else. For example, the mortgage interest deduction encourages borrowing of sums that otherwise would be untenable, which is a monster gift to the finance industry. And given that every tax deduction is a subsidy that every other tax payer has to make up for, why the hell should a renter have to support my lifestyle? It's ridiculous. That said, I'm certainly going to pay the least tax that I can within the law, so I can't blame anyone else for doing the same. Don't hate the player; hate the game. The players you can hate are the ones who make up the game, the politicians, lobbyists and big donors.