Kinsley Overuses Commas

In Defense of the AMT

The AMT is getting more unpopular every year, as more and more taxpayers fail to make it over that second fence.

The comma after “year” is redundant: it cuts off a trailing restrictive adverbial clause.\

It resembles the "flat tax" of many reformers' dreams: a high basic exemption, so that low-income people don't pay it at all….

The comma after “exemption” is redundant: it cuts off a trailing restrictive adverbial clause.

The tax code goes through generational cycles. The last big reform was in 1986, when loopholes, deductions and credits were eliminated and rates were cut dramatically.

Passive verb: “…when the code eliminated loopholes, deductions and credits and cut rates dramatically.

a bigger exemption for dependents, to encourage "family values" (you got a problem with this, buddy?).

The comma after “dependents” is redundant: it cuts off a restrictive infinitive adverbial phrase.