Allen Wastler, Managing Editor of CNNMoney.com, rants about tax loopholes for big corporations. There is some truth in what he says:

The American people have a bone to pick with the Presidential Tax Reform Panel. And Big Business owes it a beer. …

It’s not that the panel members didn’t have some good ideas. They did. Eliminating the marriage penalty and that &*%**#$ alternative minimum tax are damn good ideas. (Yes, I’m married and get hit with the AMT)

But to pay for those good moves, the panel is playing tired old games with other parts of the tax code and poking at sacred cows like the mortgage interest deduction and healthcare benefits. (You can read a summary of their plans here). …

In 1952, corporations accounted for 32 percent of federal tax receipts (the post-war peak). In 2003, corporations accounted for 7.4 percent of federal tax receipts.

That just doesn’t seem fair, does it? I checked for 2004. Corporations paid 10.6 percent of the tax bill — $184.8 billion. Reminder: our federal budget deficit is about $413 billion. If corporations were kicking in at the old 1952 rate, we’d have no problem.

While tax breaks for corporations can have a stimulative effect on the economy, there are excesses in the current and now proposed tax rules. When guys like New York Stock Exchange chairman Richard Grasso can make $139.5 million as one year’s pay, I would call that an excess.