[quote]On the campaign trail, Sanders’s taxation philosophy is simple: If you can pay more, you should; deductions are not a justifiable reason for a wealthy person to pay a lower effective rate than someone who earns less. His web site declares, “We need a progressive tax system in this country which is based on ability to pay. It is not acceptable that corporate CEOs in this country often enjoy an effective tax rate which is lower than their secretaries.” With such rhetoric, you might think that Sanders would be reluctant to take every deduction he possibly could. Yet he and his wife took these deductions: $22,946 on home-mortgage interest $14,843 on real-estate taxes $9,666 on state and local income taxes $8,000 in gifts to charity $350 in gifts to charity other than by cash or check $4,473 in unreimbursed job expenses, which according to tax law can include fees such as union dues and travel Keep in mind, Bernie Sanders doesn’t really like people itemizing their deductions to keep their taxes low. Under his tax plan, people making more than $250,000 per year — a bit more than he makes as a senator, but less than the $400,000 he would make as president — would see the value of their deductions limited to 28 cents on every dollar of taxes they paid. (The Sanders family, which falls in the 28 percent tax bracket, would just avoid being affected by the change.)[/quote] So perhaps Senator Sanders isn't the perfect angel his supporters make him out to be. Thoughts?