Anyone lobbying for the FT needs to keep three realities
in mind:
1. Like all institutions, the prime directive at the IRS
is the perpetuation of the IRS. They are probably already
threatening to audit politicians who support the FT.
2. For semi-honest pols, the FT nearly eliminates their
ability to effect policy by granting tax favors/penalties
to influence business and personal behaviour. This isn't
just a matter of social policy, but also vote-buying.
3. For crooked pols, they not only lose the vote-buying,
but they also totally lose the IRS as a political weapon.
When their "objection" to the FT doesn't make sense,
pick one or more of the above reasons.
I agree, there is plenty of incentive for some people to keep the current tax code. Lobbyists rake in huge chunks of money, that would be affected if the FairTax were in place. They are pros at getting their way, so I'm sure they will take issue with it. The pols will have to make a move on it if enough people are for it. The thing I like is b/c that this could be a bipartisan deal, I'm sure there will be a split by some. I just dont know why. The plan is not perfect, but it is certainly better than what we have. Every constituent of every district is affected by the current code in some way, probably adversely.
Those are certainly obstacles to be overcome. The good news is with the current focus on "reform" and general anti-lobbyist sentiment (Abrahamoff can be good for something after all!), this may be a good time to include this as a facet of lobbying reform. After all, without the income tax code to tinker with, the amount of lobbying drops significantly.
Exactly.