The World Needs More Ninjas

Following up on yesterday’s post, another UIUC alum, Robert Novak, is also unimpressed by the tax reform (or lack thereof) recommendations. A lot of what he says captures how I felt about the recommendations…more like tax tweaking than tax reform.

George W. Bush’s chances of engaging the country with a dynamic second-term initiative were sabotaged this week. His own tax reform advisory panel Tuesday reported two plans exceeding the worst expectations. Not only would they be dead on arrival if actually sent to Congress, but they probably stifle President Bush’s hopes for seriously reshaping how Americans are taxed.

The President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform created 10 months ago released its report Tuesday, and it turned out to have precious little to do with what Republicans think of as reform. Instead of a low flat tax, it proposes a high graduated tax. It retains pretty much intact the dysfunctional Internal Revenue Code.

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While largely leaving alone the Revenue Code’s maze, the panel rips into three of the most popular tax benefits.

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When Republicans in 1994 assumed control of Congress, the party’s leaders assured me that tax reform would be high on their agenda. In 11 years, however, Republicans have not begun to resolve conflict between a flat tax and a sales tax. Bush as president ignored the issue until this year and then named a commission instead of drafting a proposal. What emerged this week suggests that the president and the Republicans have squandered a precious opportunity.