Daunting Tax-Reform Task

Washington Times ^ | 1-12-05 | Bruce Bartlett

[wayoverontheright]

Daunting tax-reform task By Bruce Bartlett Last week, President Bush finally named the members of a tax reform commission he promised to appoint four months ago. But he has given the panel almost no time to do its work and expects a final report no later than July 31. It's hard to see what it can hope to accomplish in so short a time. In his Sept. 2 statement, Mr. Bush said he wanted the commission to report "as early as possible in 2005." Yet only one member, economist James Poterba of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is really known as an expert on tax reform, which means commission members will need considerable time just getting up to speed on the issues before they can even start serious deliberation. Apparently, the White House went out of its way to find "experts" who have never supported any of the many tax reform plans — flat tax, national retail sales tax, etc. — that have been around for years. At least, they haven't done so publicly. It makes one wonder how expert they can be when they seemingly haven't thought enough about tax reform to have yet formulated an opinion. If it is because they just couldn't make up their minds, the commission's deliberations could be very long indeed. I don't mean to disparage the tax commission — officially, the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform. I have seen and worked with

[wayoverontheright]

This is very disappointing. If true, we can kiss our hopes of a flat tax or national retail sales tax good-by.

[trebb]

Sometimes, too many "experts" spoil the plan. It can be very productive and useful if a number of laypeople get involved in asking the "what ifs".

That said, I believe the Dims will do everything they can, up to and including sacrificing some of their own, in order to stop anything that might prove to be good for the Country and us citizens.

[Deo et Patria]

Bruce Bartlett sounds like a jilted lover, disappointed that he didn't get a chance to be a part of this commission. Bartlett should go back to trying to curry favor with the New York Times.

[Uncle Fud]

Only in Washington is six months' time to discern the obvious a sign of a "daunting task".

[Dilbert56]

The poisonous atmosphere created by Bill Clinton in Washington, D.C. is responsible for this. Anyone the democrats hate will be attacked by half-truths, inuendo, and outright lies. Only these kind of "sleepers" have a chance to work in relative peace.

This problem has been studied in-depth already. It's a matter of sorting out rather than digging in. The faster the better.

I think we should vastly increase both the tax rates and the standard deduction so that most people will not need to itemize and end up paying the same tax.

[wayoverontheright]

Looks like Larry Kudlow is addressing Bartlett's article here.....http://www.lkmp.blogspot.com/

[rwrcpa1]

He is one of these guys who says the Fair Tax would have to be much higher than 23%. A rebuttal to him is here : http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/BartlettRebuttal.pdf

[Judith Anne]

The thing that torques me is that the NRST is fair, simple tax reform. What the heck is the matter with this committee that simplifications is such a difficult thing to figure out?

Goodbye to the current unwieldy code, goodbye to politicized enforcement, goodbye massive compliance costs, hello simple solution.