Punishing tax code

I think for many of us it's becoming increasingly clear that raising income is a secondary use of the income tax in today's political environment.  The primary use is to turn people's bank accounts into political footballs by punishing certain groups and rewarding their buddies.  In today's environment, the Buffett rule is a perfect example of that.  The actual tax wouldn't raise much money at all, but the Democrats who support it clearly don't care!  Their main objective is to punish success because they see the economy as a pie, and they want their piece! 

The Republicans or no better on this front.  Looking at former Presidential candidate Rick Santorum's tax plan, he called for a 0% tax rate for all manufacturing.  Who made him God of the economy?  Why does manufacturing deserve a tax break while other sectors get punished?  Did he ever think that the market is telling us something?

It's truly irritating when I think of all that can be accomplished politically in this country if we stopped wasting our time tweaking a broken tax code every 2-4 years.