Income-tax law frequently taxes economically similar items in very different ways. A frequent justification for such policy relies on the theory of optimal commodity taxation, which essentially involves drawing distinctions to maximize social welfare.  Professor Schlunk argues that tax lines should be eliminated where possible.  Specifically, Schlunk maintains that optimal commodity tax theory does not justify income-tax distinctions subject to financial innovations such as hybridization and arbitrage that allow taxpayers to effectively exploit the inconsistency.  Schlunk argues that in these situations, the strongest approach is simply to eliminate the inconsistent tax treatment.