As another tax season passes, I’m wondering why the federal income tax code has yet to be simplified.
The Democrats currently have the White House on the defensive. The executive seems preoccupied with rearranging staff and defending past decisions. The political capital is nearly depleted.
I believe President Bush and his team are both savvy and strong enough to recover and hit back. What’ll be lost in the fight, though, is any memory of the president’s domestic agenda from the 2004 campaign. This is not just a loss for the White House, this is a loss for all Americans.
Though the election turned mostly on foreign policy and national security, Bush also had a vigorous domestic agenda that he pulled together on the umbrella of the “Ownership Society.” Two of the main pieces of this domestic agenda were Social Security reform and a simplification of the federal income tax code.
After being the first presidential candidate to win with a majority of the popular vote since 1988, Bush took his tank full of political capital out for a spin. He set about the business of courting lawmakers and persuading the American people to work with him to prevent the collapse of Social Security. This effort was derailed when the national attention turned to the abortion debate.
When Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement, everybody forgot about Social Security. Then the mistakes started to happen: a bungled response to a natural disaster and a bungled appointment when a second seat on the court opened up. The opposition, of course, wasted no time going on the offensive, trying to make political hay out of even the slightest misstep by the White House.
Before the dust had even settled, the Bush administration, which so recently had a full tank of political capital, was now running on fumes. The first casualty was President Bush’s plan to save Social Security. It’s beyond dead.
In an episode of the Emmy-winning television show “Sports Night,” Josh Charles’ character says, “Right there, you know what that was? Another missed opportunity. You miss enough of them and ballgame’s over.” That’s what it’s coming down to with Social Security.
There are those who don’t trust the government’s promise of physical protection so they stockpile guns, ammunition, canned food and duct tape. As for me, I don’t trust the government’s promise of Social
Security, so I’m stockpiling money. Anyone who’s still young enough to save for a retirement that doesn’t depend one whit on Social Security would be well advised to do so.
As for a simplified system of paying federal income taxes, that is not dead yet, but it is in critical condition. A simplified tax code is something that both Democrat and Republican presidents have been trying to accomplish for decades.
This would be a domestic accomplishment that average Americans from both parties could appreciate: making the income tax more fair, more simple and less frustrating. I personally get a kick out of filling out the little forms every year. But I realize this comes from the same deeply disturbed part of my psyche that can’t get enough of standardized tests. For many Americans, this time of year is a hair-pulling, nail-biting, get-your-money’s-worth-from-that-stress-ball season.
We work hard to make the money we use to pay our taxes. The least the government could do is make it a little easier to figure out how much our fair share is.
According to former New York Governor Mario Cuomo, Americans “campaign in poetry” and “govern in prose.” But to not do anything is not governing in prose – it’s not even governing in CliffsNotes – it’s not governing at all.
The president and his advisers may think he needs to conserve his political capital in order to deal with crises abroad. But I feel this would be a misunderestimation of the president.
I believe this president has taken the first bold steps in a global war on terrorism that will last decades – just as the wars on fascism in Europe and communism throughout the world did. But I also believe he’s a strong enough politician to recover from his opponents’ attacks, pull together his domestic agenda and implement at least the CliffsNotes version of the Ownership Society.

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