Political Quotes

“Reviewing this Republican bill before us, I found that there were many of its findings and purposes with which I fully agree. ``The Tax Code is unfair.'' . . . ``The Tax Code violates fundamental principles of equal justice.'' . . . ``Exclusions, deductions, credits, and special rules make up tax expenditures that amount to over $1 trillion per year. . . .'' And then I reflected on who has been in charge of this Tax Code for 14 of the last 18 years, and it is the very people who offer us this bill today. And of the other 4 years, in 2 of those, President Bush was ``the decider.'' So they've had ample opportunity to correct these deficiencies in our Tax Code. But the problem is that rarely over the course of the last couple of decades have they met a lobbyist peddling a loophole to whom they could say ``no.'' They talk to us about a fast track. Well, that would, indeed, be a new track for them because they've had almost two decades to put in place a Tax Code that would resolve the problems about which they complain today, and they've been inactive through that period. Oh, yes, there was a time when Republicans controlled essentially all three branches of the American Government, and they flirted with a flat tax. It had great appeal to the Flat Earth Society that dominates the Republican caucus on most issues, but they couldn't make it work. Then they said they wanted a Fair Tax, and a fair tax sounded like something all of us could support.…”