Mike Conaway: “Well, a couple things. Obviously, there is an industry created to help comply with a really complex Code. There is a…”

“Well, a couple things. Obviously, there is an industry created to help comply with a really complex Code. There is a smaller but, nevertheless, powerful industry that is in place to promote new changes and additional issues to add to the Code to make it more complicated. Every one of those special programs in the Code-- deductions or credits--has an advocacy group. Somebody somewhere is using that piece in their tax return. Here is an example. I was talking back home about the advantages of eliminating--A Better Way has got another tax program. But I said, making a comment, we are going to eliminate all those deductions and credits for individuals. I said, now, that is going to take political will because every one of them has an advocate, a taxpayer, not a lobbyist or all those kinds of bad words, but a taxpayer; and in order to overcome it, we are all going to have to give up our little special niches to make that happen. No sooner was that out of my mouth and I finished it than a guy came up to me and said, hey, I agree with doing away with all those tax credits and all those deductions, but leave in place section 1031. Well, 1031 is that like-kind exchange section where I can take income- producing property, sell it, defer the gain, invest it in another income-producing property, and just kind of daisy-chain that down the road. Well, he is a broker. He sells ranches and farms, so it was in his best interest personally to make that happen.…”