David — Soon, I’m going to reimpose my moratorium on writing about this topic, as I don’t think anyone, including yours truly, has made a fresh point about it in months.
But I would like an answer to my hypothetical about the Left: Would it be acceptable to you if Democrats used this to subsidize “offer tax-credit vouchers for” liberal charitable causes, such as abortion clinics for the poor, lavish welfare benefits, etc.? Would you still see this as people spending their own money, even though they’re only allowed to spend it on specific things if they don’t want the government to take it, and even though — unlike with deductions — they don’t forgo a single dollar when they “donate”?
Also, here’s a question to you as a lawyer, more for my own edification than anything: Now that the Supreme Court has made it impossible for taxpayers to challenge tax credits the way they could challenge outright spending, what recourse is there if a government uses tax credits in a situation where it would be unconstitutional for it to use outright spending — for example, to give money enable “donations” to a church?