The American Spectator

Is it just me, or did another “blue ribbon panel” blow an opportunity to spark a serious debate? Led by former Senator Connie Mack, the tax panel offered little to spark a much needed national debate on the tax code. Heck, Dick Armey and Billy Tauzin’s two-man road show “Flat Tax versus Sales Tax” from a few years back was a more productive exercise than this turkey. At a time when movement conservatives are trying to offer some direction to a drifting, and increasingly ad-hoc, national agenda, this panel could have provided the foundations of a transformative national debate by offering several proposals ranging from modest adjustments to “burn the entire tax-code and start all over again” positions. This is a debate that is sorely needed before we can seriously propose reforms to the entitlements that are eating more than 50% of tax revenues. I feel like Linus in A Charlie Brown Christmas yelling, “Isn’t there anybody out there who understands the true meaning of… tax reform?”