Tax Cut Fever Dream, Or Trial Balloon?

Coming from anyone else this column would read like a proposed Saturday Night Live sketch, but David Brooks is well-connected in Obama's White House.  His notion?  Obama needs to reclaim his relevance and set the national debate by making a bid for tax simplification and reform.  No, seriously, and in time for the State of the Union:

I have a vision.

Sometime over the next couple of weeks, President Obama issues a statement that reads: “Over the past several months, Republicans and Democrats have been fighting over what to do with the Bush tax cuts. I have my own views, but it’s not worth having a big fight over a tax code we all hate. Therefore, I’m suspending this debate. We will extend the Bush rates for everybody for one year, along with unemployment benefits. But during that year we will enact a comprehensive tax reform plan.

“The plan we will work on this year will look a bit like the 1986 reform plan. We will clean out the loopholes. We will take on the special interests. We will lower rates and make the tax code fair.”

Then Obama asks his aides to come up with a tax reform proposal he can lay before Congress. The State of the Union, he knows, is the one big chance he will have to redefine himself before the American people. On the big night, Obama stands before Congress. He gestures over to a giant stack of papers. “This is our tax code,” he tells the American people. “It’s rotten and we’re scrapping it.”

Then the president outlines his own proposal. It looks a bit like the plan hatched by Senator Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon, and Judd Gregg, the outgoing Republican senator from New Hampshire.

Where to start?  Tax reform doesn't just fall out of the sky; Reagan and Bush made it the centerpiece of their Presidential campaigns and still had to fight like fury to get something.

Secondly, we are talking about Obama here - he has not exactly preserved the confidence of the left, so just who is he leading into this battle?

Third, although both parties engage in social engineering through the tax code, the Democrats are the party of Better Living Through Bigger Government.  If I may be allowed a flashback to 2000, Bush proposed to cut taxes by cutting rates; Gore proposed to cut taxes by sprinkling targeted tax cuts on the truly deserving.  Is Obama really less of a Nanny-Statist than Gore?  Tax simplification is not what Democrats do.  (Bush could have and didn't, which is one of my three Big Peeves with him.)

As to timing, I don't believe that deficit neutral tax simplification is ever achievable - on at least some points the classic problem of diffuse (prospective) winners and focused (prospective) losers emerge, and the focused losers derail the enterprise.  Simplification can be sold when it is combined with tax cuts, thereby giving folks an opportunity to fight over whether they win a little or a lot.

But the Bush tax cuts are likely to be renewed in the next few weeks (per Brooks, just for a one year truce).  In terms of packaging, Obama would have more traction if he let the tax cuts lapse, with the idea that they would only be restored as part of a tax reform package. 

Well, that won't be happening.  And Obama is really going to pull a plan together in time for the State of the Union in January?  C'mon, Obama is the guy who turned over the drafting of both the stimulus bill and healthcare reform to Nancy and Harry; is he just going to flip the keys to John and Harry on tax reform?  If the White House staff is going to deliver this by late January, they'll be needing this.  And this, too, in classic form.

Frankly, the idea that Obama is going to become the champion of tax simplification would be absurd, except that it is coming from Brooks and he is cozy with various Obama staffers.  If it's a trial balloon it is still daft, but it would indicate give a sense of the desperation in the White House.

Comments

[hit and run]

You can google different phrases from the trollbot's comment and find that he has posted some or all of it in any number of places over the . . . years.

Not that I did. I've just heard.

[Threadkiller]

Cross posting my snark because I have started drinking.

--"Alas it was not my document I was editing and felt I could fix it for free where my architect would bill me by the hour for fixing it...

Not to bad. Almost 7 hours fixing it for free. :-)

[Old Lurker]

Ha Ha TK.

Opportunity Cost was still zero today.

[Threadkiller]

Speaking of drinking. DoT, I will be camping at Silver Strand in January. I would enjoy meeting you.

[sbw]

Wow! Not any of the irregular regulars?

Well, once is enough. Into the Narcisolator!

[JM Hanes]

4:42 PM, the trailer:

Thanks Wordle!

[lfj]

Andy is going back where the nice people listen to it and stuff.

[RichatUF]

Good grief. What was that?

JM Hanes-

In re: 5:23. I was being mostly snarky in my previous comments-mostly surprised that the Dems moved on the "tax cuts for the middle class" at all. If a deal in the Senate were to collapse and it get shoved into next year, the tax hikes take effect at the front end of the mid-term. The President and the Dems could let it go and hope that the economy starts to recover and that the tax hikes will be forgotten. Also, the Rep House is going to have a full agenda and I could see them sending something up once or twice, but it would get pointless if it won't even get on the Senate's schedule. FWIW.

I know that I can get long winded, but wow, that comment has to be a record.

[hit and run]

JMH:
4:42 PM, the trailer:

High-larious.

[RichatUF]

Charlie-

re: 4:38. Paying taxes is patriotic!

[narciso the harpoon]

Much like they said of the Labour Party's 1983
platform, the one that gave Forsyth the idea
for the "Fourth Protocol" Rich, 'it's the world's longest suicide note', the question is how much sttrychnine will they giving the economy in the process

[Threadkiller]

Nice job JMH.

I can just make out "Eddie" and "Iron Maiden."

[MayBee]

Cross posting my snark because I have started drinking.

ha ha ha ha ha!

[Look out, it's lookin' literate.]

I figure that if I run through that at scanning speed about 40 times I'll absorb it. I'm up to three, now.
==================

[Clarice]

brava, jmh..

[RichatUF]

narciso-

Pretty much. The Dems boxed themselves in though and we should cheer them as they march over the precipice (and hell they weren't even smart enough to cashier the leadership that brought about their midterm shellacking). Not that I want to see taxes go up, but something has got to give, and this could be a "teachable moment".

[Back to scanning.]

Jumping around a little here; let's see if I got this straight. Old Lurker posted the 10,000 plus word architect's plans after intervention by cathyf and DrJ?
============

[Old Lurker]

Very funny Kim.

Some of mine made almost as much sense!

[sbw]

Play 4:42 P.M. backwards at slow speed. What do you hear?

[hit and run]

Paul is dead

[hit and run]

sbw:
Play 4:42 P.M. backwards

I don't know about cathyf,but I've got a trick in Word that will allow me to do just that.

Should I post it?

[tommy mc donnell]

anything that will put more money in the hand of the serial spenders and less in the hands of the people who worked for it. people need to realize this not a debate about cutting taxes. this is a debate about raising taxes. the biggest problem in the country is that the politicans already have too much of the workers income.

[Janet CEO Redneck Beauty Salon Inc.]

That Wordle is great JM Hanes!

[Threadkiller]

Great idea Kim. If you blink real fast, while scrolling, this is what you">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UocF4ycBnYE&feature=related"> see.

[tommy mc donnell]

question is"god is lying to you all" alvin greene

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

These are not tax "cuts" and everyone should stop using that term. The tax cut took place almost 10 years ago. This would be a whopping tax hike and I don't think the average American understands this. I know it, in fact, after a conversation with several people the other night. When I said, you realize you are going to see a big reduction in your take home pay starting in January if the Congress fails to act, 4 of the 6 people there did not know this. They thought nothing would change if Congress did nothing and that they would see a tax cut if they did act.

[Janet CEO Redneck Beauty Salon Inc.]

Yeah Sara..you gotta wonder why we even HAVE newspapers & news shows on TV?

[maryrose]

Is it just me or does Obama always seem to skip town when bad news comes out. Midterm results, bad jobs report, oil spill. Krauthammer says he's enamored of celebrating his own accomplishments. A year ago he finally decided to increase troops in Afghanistan, a no brainer for anyone else and so he's there today congratulating himself.Now today he finally got a trade deal with South Korea after failing to close the deal about a month ago. I guess if you can't get START this will have to suffice as a foreign policy achievement. It just shows how truly desperate they are for any victory. I'm still steamed about his reneging on oil drilling for Florida and Louisiana. I suppose he's still smarting from Jindal's criticism.

[macphisto]

somebody should send that 4:42 post to WikiLeaks...by the time Assange gets done reading it Interpol will be knock knock knockin' on Kevin's door.

yeah, i know, there's no "Kevin" involved...i just needed the rhyme. [Dylan]knock knock knockin' on Kevin's dooooooor...[/Dylan]

[Jim Ryan]

Is the punch line to the second-hottest joke in North Korea.

Guy says, "My committee chair is making me visit his wife every 3rd, 13th and 23rd of the month. She puts kim-chee all over my body and does things to me that I detest, regret and delight in. There is a beating afterwards and I must pay her half of my recent paycheck. I find three merit points in my file the next day. She calls it 'bubu, which sounds like 'grandmother' and also 'weekly family receipt form.' What am I to do?"

The guy's comrades pause a moment and look at him and say, "Is your committee chair Comrade Han? Don't tell us you are in Office of Field Reform under Comrade Han."

Guy says, "Yes, that is he."

The guy's comrades look at each other and then reply. "Comrade, the only cure for that is more bubu."

[Melinda Romanoff]

JMH-

I went this route.

[Melinda Romanoff]

OK,

That's pretty dinky for the bestest, shortest political speech ever.

Have to work on that....

[hit and run]

sbw wanted backards,and since I waited the appropriate time for objections and none were heard....away we go!

-------------

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.tnemecalp gnitceles nehw ycagel siht hctam sdoG eht rof ,efil roirp a ni gnorw enod evah uoy tahw dnatsrednu ot snis s'tnerap ruoy ot kooL:::dias I tahw tegrof t'noD .evitaerc teG .sdoG eht htiw pihsnoitaler ruoy riaper nac uoy woh dna gnorw enod ev'uoy tahw tuoba knihT .siht no emit dneps uoy dnemmocer I "???WON OD EW OD TAHW"

------------------------------
Ok,fine,even I can't go further than that. That is,I won't. Because I could.

[Melinda Romanoff]

hit,

Why, oh why, play with a Ted Rall-ite manifesto?

The best response for that sort of screed is simple.

Very well self explained but not for me.

Thank you.

Let me know how it goes.

And I know you will.

[hit and run]

Melinda:
hit,

Why, oh why, play with a Ted Rall-ite manifesto?

I was simply responding to demand. Don't look at me -- ask sbw (9:23pm) why he asked for it.

[Jim Ryan]

Ebay, 2018, search terms:

"global warming hoax collectible"

"rare global warming hoax poster"

[Jim Ryan]

For fun, go here, then here, then here.

[Clarice]

Loks like the writing on the wall to me, Hit.. in the original Aramaic.

It means send Clarice all the money in your wallet. Or else.

[Threadkiller]

!lla thgindooG

[Melinda Romanoff]

Most know I am in awe of Hugh Hendry and try to post interviews with him when they arise, but when I get to point to his investor's letters, I will post them with EMPHASIS as a must read as an insight to global economics.

Read all 12 pages, please.

[hit and run]

Clarice (364 days until your next big day!):
It means send Clarice all the money in your wallet. Or else.

I'm not risking "or else". You're getting every last cent in my wallet.

In fact,I'm going to take all the money in my wallet right now -- and send it an equivalent amount to each and every JOMer who requests it.

No. Make that double the amount in my wallet right now.

Email me. You'll get double the amount in my wallet right now.

If you know the secret code,that amount will be tripled.

[Clarice]

HEH, Hit.

Mel, that article looked fascinating but i am unable to get to more than the first page from your link.

[hit and run]

Carp. Yesterday was today just 18 minutes ago,which means tomorrow yesterday is now today. All of which to say...only 363 days until your next big day!

Time flies when you're having fun.

[Jim Ryan]

Dang. Have a hanky for this rendition of Stardust.

[Clarice]

I have trouble enough with time, Hit. Niters.

[Jim Ryan]

The best version of Lush Life ever? Yup, it's Chris Connor.

[hit and run]

Trouble with time is why we all need http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12122.html>Pelosi.

Niters.

[glasater]

Mel Torme--the Velvet Fog...

[BR]

Oh, this thread is so much fun.
What, now they want to tax time!?

Midnight joke for the spirit of Ponce de Leon:

I've discovered the Fountain of Youth.

Say: "I refuse to die until I've found the Fountain of Youth."

[Extraneus]

State Lawmakers Bolt Democratic Party After Election Day

Adding insult to injury for their party, at least 13 Democratic state lawmakers have joined the Republican ranks since Election Day -- deepening GOP gains and in one case handing the party the state House majority.

[L!ink U!nder N!ame.]

Hit, someone thought they spotted a nice pile in my wallet, and I was so amused to show that it amounted to eleven three month old Walmart photo receipts.

Watts Up has good stuff about this Administration attempting to shovel money out the door to the shakedown artists of the world over climate. It's been Wikileaked.
=========================

[Hear com de DeeBate Judg.]

BR, I don't go to funerals and will be late for my own, as I am in everything else. How do I know? I already am!
==============================

[BR]

JimR, tku sooo much for the fun!
Fred and Ginger doing Kipling, ahhhh!
Here's one for you, the sultry DK
(my favorite singer when I play chess).

[Reveille.]

Much Gracious, BR.
=============

[BR]

Hee, Kim, you can live on Late">http://www.welt-atlas.de/datenbank/karten/karte-3-519.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.welt-atlas.de/map_of_tonga_3-519&usg=__NK4x30JYlBW8fP1EfOl94IJBGwU=&h=562&w=450&sz=40&hl=en&start=14&zoom=1&tbnid=6YHAxkiPgzfj_M:&tbnh=157&tbnw=126&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522Late%2BIsland%2522%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26biw%3D868%26bih%3D509%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C291&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=441&vpy=147&dur=328&hovh=251&hovw=201&tx=135&ty=198&ei=VC_6TLa-Cp6QnAeDuInHCg&oei=6S76TNvCKMaRnweQ0b3HCg&esq=32&page=2&ndsp=7&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:14&biw=868&bih=509">Late Island
and I'll live on Early Island
and visit each other often
and we'll both live forever :)

[BR]

Oh, you were early and I was late :)

[larry]

Ninety-Nein Trial Bal-LOOOnnnnsss." Question Mark and the Mysterions' biggest hit.

Michele Rhee may be our next education commissioner down here. I think she's playing hard to
get with KJ.

a device will be installed in each car that tracks the number of miles driven. This amazing new
invention will be called an odometer.

Larry, you wanna arrest the old lady and that other kid. Sgt Takerin; Sgt Booker. (R I P Les Nielson)

A priest, a rabbi and a parrot walk into a bar. Bartender says, "What is this, some kind of joke?"

A great ballplayer and a great guy, Ron Santo passed Thursday. Many news presenters are calling him a hall of famer, but he may be the best player (OK second best) not in the hall. Ron was a gold glover 6 times, 9 times an all star, .300 lifetime avg, top 100 all time in homers and rbi. He was Cubs radio broadcaster recent years, lost both legs to type 1 diabetes, finally contracted cancer. He smiled through it all along with the gross indignity of not being selected by the hall each year. R I P # 10.