Relevant article from the Economist:
http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578389-despite-ranco...
"Two lawmakers are trying to reform the code: Dave Camp, a Republican, and Max Baucus, a Democrat. Mr Obama should lend his weight to their efforts. Ideally, they would start afresh with no loopholes and much lower rates. Republicans should love this: if Congress were to scrap all loopholes and deductions, it could nearly halve income-tax rates and still raise the same amount of money. Democrats should like it, too: a more efficient tax system would let them pay for the same amount of government with less drag on growth. The snag is that voters define “loopholes” as other people’s tax breaks. Their own, they rather like. Getting rid of particular boondoggles such as the mortgage-interest deduction may prove impossible. But capping the overall amount of deductions any individual can take should not be, so long as both parties have their fingerprints on the bill, thus sharing the credit and the blame."