In the World

Romney gets specific on tax deductions

Kudos to Mitt Romney for suggesting a concrete and sensible income-tax reform: capping deductions at $17,000.

Now, it's not clear whether he means tax liability or taxable income. As Dylan Matthews explains, that's the difference between a highly progressive (in the technical sense, not the euphemism-for-liberal sense) proposal and one that would affect a lot of middle-class households:

Does the $17,000 cap mean that deductions can’t reduce a person’s taxes by more than $17,000? That would raise a good chunk of revenue, mostly from high earners. Or is Romney proposing that taxpayers can’t reduce the income subject to tax by more than $17,000? That would raise even more money, but it would hit a lot of middle-class households. The typical household gets about $15,000 chopped off its taxable income from the employer health-care exemption alone, so many families would hit the $17,000 limit very quickly.