The swamp never changes …

Real Federal tax reform should be a relatively simple thing. 

Eliminate all the subsidies, special tax treatments, tax offsets, tax credits, loopholes and the like, and start over. Get back to basics: tax income however it’s received and from wherever it’s derived. Keep graduated tax brackets if that makes you happy. 

But stop the rest of the nonsense. 

I know that’s hopelessly naïve on my part.  I can always hope. 

Of course, that’s not going to happen. Too many people, too many companies, too many state legislatures, and too many special interests are in the way. Everybody wants to keep what they have now, or even expand what they’re already getting.

That parliament of whores we call Congress are all salivating at the renewed opportunity to kiss the butts of their campaign donors and constituents by bending, twisting, and perverting arcane sections of the tax code to keep them happy.

There’s absolutely no reason – economic or otherwise – that our tax code is so complex.  Our tax code should only be focused on getting revenue to support Federal government operations.  Everything else in the code is crap put there by special interests. 

It’s a tax code; it’s not supposed to be a cornucopia of handouts for corporate welfare or social engineering. As such, it should be designed solely to raise money, not give it away. 

People who expect the Federal tax code be “fair” are fooling themselves. The courts ruled long ago that nothing about taxes needs to be fair or equitable. 

Moreover, those who usually argue vehemently for “fairness” aren’t really interested in that; if they were they’d be in favor of a flat tax where everybody – the poor, the middle class, and the rich – would all pay the same rate on their income. And it would cover all income. 

Don’t hear self-anointed champions of the poor hollering for that, do you?  Nope.  What they want is to dramatically raise the income threshold for who qualifies to be “poor” so more get more tax payer dollars and benefits without paying anything in. And Congress goes along. 

Doubt that? Consider this: Congress under both parties routinely passes laws to give tax rebates and other payouts to people who don’t pay any Federal income tax at all.    

Think about that logic for a moment.

People get tax rebates on taxes they didn’t pay.  Our government also sends checks to non-taxpayers who claim multiple dependents they don’t have, people who have jobs but fall below a certain income level, and others, including people here illegally. 

And now that same Congress is debating whether to raise those payouts even more.  Just to get the votes Republicans need to pass this “tax reform.”

Our media have generally focused on only a few issues in this legislative effort.

First, the rich might pay a bit less in taxes. Corporations would see their tax rates go down. In about 10 years the middle class might have to pay a bit more in taxes.  The poor won’t benefit. And the now heavily subsidized premiums for ObamaCare will go up, affecting millions. 

Got to be honest here: I’m okay with all that. Especially if loopholes are closed.   

The rich pay almost all the Federal income tax already; close all the loopholes and they’ll probably pay more. The lowering of the tax rate on corporations is meaningless – hardly any big corporations pay much if any tax at present because of all the credits, subsidies and loopholes.

The middle class should pay a bit more in taxes when all their specious tax breaks and credits go away; those have never accomplished anything that wouldn’t have happened anyway without them. Most of these are designed more to tilt the marketplace for special interests, like realtors, childcare providers, and solar energy panel installers, for example, by subsidizing their cost. Strip away the tax breaks and  credits and the free market will drive prices down for the middle class.

What about the poor?  Honestly, why should people who don't pay any tax now get an additional tax break? On what? 

Here's a better idea.  How about we stop subsidizing and incentivizing poverty?  If we really want to help the poor then don’t reward able-bodied people for pushing themselves into poverty. Don’t reward getting pregnant at 15, dropping out of school, becoming a drug addict, or committing a felony. That way people can qualify for a real job, make real money, work hard and do better. Tax policy has nothing to do with poverty, defeating it or increasing it. 

Finally, ObamaCare premiums were already skyrocketing long before there was talk of eliminating the personal mandate and payoffs to the insurance companies. The people who couldn’t afford health insurance before didn’t gain practical, useful health insurance under ObamaCare.  If they were only paying a few bucks per month for ObamaCare. but couldn’t afford the deductibles in the thousands, did they ever have real coverage?    

One thing I particularly like about the tax reform package in its present form is that it rights a grievous wrong that's been perpetuated for decades. It could eliminate some of the Federal tax offsets given to residents of high-tax states.   

Right now that’s a $100-billion a year tax break people in high-tax states enjoy, at the expense of the residents of other states. Politicians in those states rightfully worry their current residents, especially the rich, will flee to lower-tax states once they can’t offset their state and local taxes against their Federal tax anymore. That’s a possibility. 

However, what really keeps these state and local politicians awake at night is that they finally may have to rein in their spending on increasing the size and cost of government.  They’ll lose the freedom to raise state, local, and property taxes whenever they want on whomever they wish, knowing the offset minimizes the bite. The speaker of the New Jersey Assembly already said they might need to reconsider the recent “millionaire tax” they passed if they lose the offset.  Boo-hoo. 

Then there’s the supposed closing of other loopholes that continue to favor the rich and corporations.  There are so many of these hardly anyone can keep track of them.

Except lobbyists. Make no mistake, when tax policy is being written, the lobbyists come out in droves, like ants at a picnic. They all want their piece of the goodies.    

That’s when you can see the real swamp in action. 

And that’s when you can clearly see how our elected representatives are willing to sell us out at the bidding of powerful special interests.

How they are willing to trade their vote – or hold up the passage of a bill – for some bit of pork that benefits a single company or handful of companies in their state or district. How they preach about simplifying the tax code at the same time they weave in more complexity, written so specifically that it can only apply to a favored few.  

How achieving the promise of substantive tax reform always fails these days because practically everyone in Congress is beholden to someone or some group opposed to anything that might strip away some of their special deals and require them to pay more taxes.  

Last but certainly not least, how petty they are, using their vote to settle old political scores. Think Bob Corker, Jeff Flake, and John McCain.   

Or as a bargaining chip to get something else that has absolutely nothing to do with the tax-reform legislation at hand. Think Susan Collins.   

Then you have the grandstanders now opposed to anything that might increase the deficit, unless it’s something they want which would also increase the deficit.  Or the clowns on the left like Schumer who never met deficit spending he didn’t like until now; now he’s a budget hawk. 

Does everybody in Congress think we’re idiots? They must. 

After all, we keep voting them in. What does that say about us?    

The swamp never changes. It will never change on its own. The tax-reform package just floats the crap to the top again so it’s more visible. 

There’s only one way to change it. Vote them all out.  Every last one of them. 

Then maybe we’ll get term limits.  Ethics Committees with teeth. And a reduction in the pay-to-play mentality of incumbents from both parties that thrive in the swamp.