The Mad Bombers

摘要

There's a wild conspiracy theory going around Capitol Hill, and it's not about Chinagate. Call it the mad-bomber approach to tax reform. Here's how it works: overload the tax code with a collection of mind-bending complexities, the likes of which haven't been seen for more than a decade. Give the Internal Revenue Service, which Rep. Bill Archer once said he wanted "completely out of the lives of Americans," new authority over everything from education to welfare policy. Reduce capital-gains rates so that tax shelters take off again. And finally, force ordinary folks to line up outside H&R Block offices to receive meager tax benefits they barely comprehend. The result: far from thanking Washington for tax relief, Americans will rise in revolt against the income-tax code.