The Tax Reform Game, Again

With Republicans in charge of Congress, we are once again titillated by the promises and prospects for tax relief. Will Congress make the Bush Tax Cuts permanent? Will new tax cuts be approved, or others accelerated? What tax reforms could be passed to help jumpstart the economy and create jobs? Might the IRS and the Income Tax be abolished altogether in favor of an efficient, low cost, and pro-growth consumption tax?

Don't count on it. This is tax reform season in Washington DC where politicians go hunting for contributions to their reelection war chests. Even the specter of changing the tax code gets the army of DC lobbyists into action dumping millions into Congressional coffers. All this talk of tax reform is nothing more than the old game of political influence peddling; a game in which the average American taxpayer always loses.

http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=224

November 16, 2002

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