text: And remember what happened to Carter.  Eminently sensible and shot right down.  Yes, a buck was a buck, and the buck stopped before any significant amount of it was implemented.  In the end, any tax reform has winners and losers and you hear a lot of bitching from the losers.    
  
  And taxes are not just to collect money to run the country (as distinct from paying for government services, which is a classic argument of the rich against paying based on their ability to pay).  The welter of taxes and tax exemptions are there to encourage some behaviours and discourage others.  Every oddity and wrinkle of the tax system was put there for a reason.  For instance, the favourable treatment of dividends from Canadian corporations is there to encourage Canadians to invest in Canadian companies.  Take it away and a lot of money would flow out of the Canadian stock market and into other countries.  And so on.  
  
  Simplifying is a great idea until you look at the oxen that would be gored.
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