Tax Reform Necessary, Not Plausible

by Rachel Christiansen

As tensions within Congress are tighter than ever amidst current budget battles, an agreement on tax reform may be what the American public needs to restore faith in the democratic system, according to a joint committee on taxation. 

Former House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt and former Treasury Secretary James Barker offered suggestions based on the tax reform they helped kickstart in 1982 during an informal roundtable meeting hosted by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) Wednesday.

Put simply, the urgency for a tax reform is due to the current system being “too complex, too costly and too burdensome,” according to Camp. 

“This may be a way to show the country and the Congress that you can reach bipartisan agreements on very tough topics,” Gephardt said.

Easier said than done, as Gephardt indicated when he said “[bipartisanship] is like playing baseball…you gotta practice…you gotta start somewhere.”

The way to go about this, Gephardt said, is to “avoid questions on distribution and questions on how much the government should take.”

More advice from the tax veterans included aiming a policy that collects the same amount of revenue and to keep the tax code’s current distribution levels. 

Hesitation already occurred with some members of the committee over the difficulty of a task during such tough economic times. 

“You tell me now the stars are aligned, and I say, ‘Wow, what are you drinking?’” Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) said to Gephardt on his tax reform policy.