Indirectly, we can point to the creation of Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) in the 1960s to ensure that higher income taxpayers paid at least some minimum despite the plentiful deductions. Some of the things not allowed under AMT are state and local tax deductions, interest on mortgage equity debt (not acquistion debt), personal and dependent exemption deductions, deferring tax on compensation due to Incentive Stock Options (ISO), some kinds of accelerated depreciation, and so on.