Byron Dorgan: “I think what the Senator is saying, in response to my question, however, is he does not know what he would replace the…”

“I think what the Senator is saying, in response to my question, however, is he does not know what he would replace the Tax Code with. He does not know how it would affect the American people, does not know its impact on the economy. That represents a fear by a lot of people. For example, it represents a fear by the group of folks who represent the largest corporations in this country who work on the tax policies for--I could read the list of corporations, but it is virtually a who's who--Hewlett Packard, BellSouth, Alcan Aluminum, so on and so forth. Here is what they say. Listen to what they say: We're writing to express the institute's serious concern about proposals to sunset the IRS Code on a designated date without specifying a replacement tax system. In our view, these proposals reflect either a misapprehension of the importance of certainty and predictability to business enterprises and individuals or a disregard for the consequences of terminating the tax system. They illustrate the folly of making tax policy by sound bite, and it ought to be rejected. I know these are the folks who run America's businesses who say we need some certainty and predictability. They are not against reform. That is not what they are saying. But they are saying that they need to understand what it is you want to do.”