Kathryn Anne Edwards

They thought that the tax code had gotten so complicated that everyone feels like they're being cheated.

And that whatever way we move forward, it has to feel like people can understand the tax code so they don't feel like they're being cheated from it top to bottom.

So I like, you know, the idea of an alternative minimum functions the way that I would like the tax code to for everyone in it.

If you look at every line item in the consumer price index going back to 2000, the fastest growing price, bar none, is tax preparation services.

That's a system-wide problem, not just a problem for people at the top.

So we can, I guess, short-term, we have a deficit, we have a debt, we need to do something better.

There's a lot of low-hanging fruit for restoring basic things in our tax system.

But in the long-term, we can avoid or at least delay being in this situation again if we make the tax code fair for everybody.

And what I worry about is if we need to raise more money, which we absolutely do—

then I don't want – there's a way to make people not feel sore about it.

And the complexity leaves the hangover of soreness, of like, well, I still have to pay more because they're going to do this, this, and this.

And so some type of simplification.

Right now the answer to soreness is that we create a new deduction or a new credit or a new little bonus or reward for whatever person complains the most, like the Augusta credit, right?

Right.

You don't have to pay for the income for renting out your home if it's just under two weeks, which is what the people from Augusta got for the masters.

So they don't have to pay income on the money they get when they rent out their houses for that, right?

Like we create these tiny little rewards for people who have loud – Oh, you've never heard the Augusta break?

If you rent out your house and earn money from renting out the house – here it is – the Augusta Rule, formerly Section 280A-G of the Internal Revenue Code –

is that you can rent out your personal residence for up to 14 days per year without having to report that income or pay federal income taxes on it.

It is a function of the lobbying efforts of the citizens of Augusta, Georgia, who would rent out their house during the Masters.