The speaker of the
House flashed frustration as he addressed the
National Retail Federation.
“I am astonished when
I go around the country at the intensity of anger at the
IRS,” said the speaker. “
People are determined to get the IRS out of their life. They are furious at the IRS.”
“We say a tax code should go away,” suggested the
House Majority Leader during an appearance before the
Senate Finance Committee.
“We must tear the income tax code out of by its roots so it can never come back again,” thundered the chairman of the
House Ways and Means Committee, the panel in charge of crafting tax policy.
And nearly 21 years after those remarks by then-House Speaker
Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., then-House
Majority Leader Dick Armey. R-Texas, and then-Ways and
Means Committee Chairman
Bill Archer, R-Texas, little has changed.
Anger at the IRS has rarely been higher. Politicians gripe about a calcified tax code that
Congress hasn’t overhauled since
1986. Yet 30 years later, lawmakers get on the stump and campaign about the necessity of renovating the nation’s tax system.
Change the players and the time and it’s likely
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; House Majority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; and
Ways and Means Committee Chairman
Kevin Brady, R-Texas, would all utter similar declarations today as Gingrich, Armey and
Archer.
And they have. Especially this time of year with federal taxes due Monday (delayed three days due to
Emancipation Day in the
District of Columbia).
“
The IRS is not being led well. I think the IRS misled
Americans,” said
Ryan when asked about an effort by some House
Republicans to impeach
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “This is an agency that needs to be cleaned up.”
“What
America needs today is a new,
21st Century tax code that is built for growth,” said
Brady in a speech. “I can assure you that
Ways and Means Republicans are serious about reforming our broken tax code.”
The IRS makes for a great whipping boy this time of year as frustrated Americans rush to the
Post Office to file their taxes just before the deadline. Lawmakers offer up political Pablum to exercised taxpayers about changing the tax code and why the tax system is in desperate need of an overhaul.
Yet little changes.
Antagonists are crucial in politics. Politicians need to cast themselves as caped superheroes, warring against the evils of the state. Lawmakers appear to have perfect adversaries in the IRS and an outdated tax code.
Eliminate the IRS and pass tax reform -and suddenly lawmakers are deprived of foes.
As a political issue, it might not be better to change anything. But legislative realities make it very hard to usher tax reform to passage. There are so many shelters. So many interest groups.
It’s hard to concoct a plan which garners the votes for passage.
If this was easy, Congress would have approved tax reform years ago.
Remember the Republican-controlled House and
Senate in the mid-1990s with Newt Gingrich at the helm? They didn’t have a
Republican in the
White House.
But they had as good a negotiating partner as they could ever get at
1600 Pennsylvania in
President Clinton. The
Democratic president and the
GOP Congress got together on welfare reform, entitlement spending and the budget. But no tax reform.
How about
President George W. Bush and a Republican House and Senate for most of the early
2000s?
Nada on comprehensive tax reform. ‘
Nuff said.
Tax reform was not a high priority of
President Obama and congressional
Democrats when they came to power. Still, Rep.
Charlie Rangel,
D-N.Y., chaired the House Ways and Means Committee then and designed a tax reform measure.
Then
Rangel faced serious ethics issues, lost his chairmanship and the House censured him for his conduct. No tax reform there.
Former Rep.
Dave Camp, R-Mich., took over the gavel of the Ways and Means Committee when Republicans scored the
House majority in
2011. Of course, that was back when Republicans were a supposed lock to win the White House and the Senate in
2012. Neither happened. No tax reform then, either.
- published: 16 Apr 2016
- views: 3