Wendy Sherman: “our economy is important, and we need sound policy, not soundbites. As the tax due date approaches, what we are getting…”

“our economy is important, and we need sound policy, not soundbites. As the tax due date approaches, what we are getting is soundbites, and perhaps the worst is what is going on in the Committee on Ways and Means this week where they are considering a proposal to delegate rewriting the Tax Code to a commission, not to Members of Congress, who are supposed to report that code out on July 4, 2004, and then our Internal Revenue Code would, by the terms of this bill, expire by the end of 2004. This means our economy will be in total disarray. Who would invest in municipal bonds if they do not know if the advantages of investing in them will be swept away? Who will start an R&D tax project if the credit is going to be swept away or might be? And who would count on fiscal responsibility in a society that is going to give its Congress just a few months to rewrite the entire Tax Code after it hears from a commission? What we see instead is an elaborate ruse that prevents us from reforming the Tax Code one section at a time.”