The tax code punishes, encourages, rewards, and generally manipulates decisions we make, both big and small. And the tax code is crafted by politicians who are primarily motivated by ego and arrogance. They know what’s best, so just follow along and maybe a tax break is headed your way.

But what makes the current tax code a joke and the flat tax something to pine for, are the countless examples of policies that inherently conflict with one another.

“Congress is clearly biased against smaller cars,” says Joe Kristan, a CPA with Roth & Co. in Des Moines in today’s Wall Street Journal.

What? I thought Congress wanted everyone to own a Toyota Prius or Chevy Volt.

Guess not. The article points out that “this year Congress is running a large ‘bonus depreciation’ special on cars weighing more than 6,000 pounds, such as the Cadillac Escalade and Nissan Armada.

That ought to go over well at the Sierra Club.