Sarah, Mitt and several tea party groups say the tax compromise with Barack Obama is a bad idea, sells out the GOP’s anti-spending promises and, worst of all, helps you-know-who’s re-election chances. But Newt, Mike and Tim think it’s a decent deal. Far be it from me to interrupt the GOP’s holiday spirit. Let us stipulate, however, that the furtive, ragged tax bill being let out the back door of a lame duck Congress proves–officially and conclusively–that tax policy in the United States has hit the wall.
A compelling, even frightening article in Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal about a tax system that is a morass of extenders, extrusions, loopholes, credits and bubble-gum fixes ended with the story of a grievously ill cancer patient balancing the benefits of taking an experimental drug against the estate-tax benefits to his family of an early death.