[Verse 1] There's Haig-Simons whispering from nineteen twenty-one Income equals consumption plus the wealth that you've begun To accumulate or squander in your net worth's shifting dance But Section Three ignores this academic expanse Your homegrown tomatoes ripple with taxable delight The rent you never pay yourself should shine in Revenue's sight When parents house their children, income flows unseen Yet our Act pretends these phantoms have never been [Chorus] Two frameworks that the lawmakers forgot to write Consumption plus net worth changes burning bright Endowment tax your human capital tonight While subsistence carves exceptions from the light The Act ignores what theory crystallized [Verse 2] Endowment taxation sidesteps income's murky maze Tax the capacity to earn, not what your paycheck says Your doctorate in surgery, your hands that craft and heal This human capital stockpile makes your tax burden real But administrators shudder at this theoretical dream How do you measure potential in a practical scheme? While Haig and Simons calculated every imputed gain Our legislators chose a simpler, narrower refrain [Chorus] Two frameworks that the lawmakers forgot to write Consumption plus net worth changes burning bright Endowment tax your human capital tonight While subsistence carves exceptions from the light The Act ignores what theory crystallized [Bridge] Consumption tax would shelter every dollar that you save Investment flows untaxed into tomorrow's fiscal grave Only spending above subsistence bears the revenue load Most coherent philosophy, impossible to code [Outro] Map each concept against Section Three's domain Note every divergence, every theoretical strain The academics knew what lawmakers couldn't face Perfect tax theory lost in legislative space
← 1 The Act's Non-Definition | 3 The Corporate vs. Individual Asymmetry →