Reform. It’s one of those terms that sounds good without particularly meaning anything. If someone says sentencing reform, they could mean making sentences more fair … or not. With regulatory reform there’s a pretty good chance what someone means is “let me do anything I want,” but hey, possibly not.
However, Texas Rep. Kevin Brady, Republican chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, has been kind enough to sit down on CNBC and spell out what reform means when it comes buckled next to the word “tax.”
HARWOOD: Could you envision a tax reform that you could go along with that had many elements that you liked that did not decrease the top rate?
BRADY: That'd be difficult to accept, because I think that holds back investment, both by businesses, small businesses, and by families.
HARWOOD: Because there are some conservatives who are arguing that in the environment that we're in now, that conservative tax reformers ought to focus on things other than the top rate.
BRADY: I'd have to disagree
We’re in a place where the top 1 percent collects more income than at any time in our history. Where we’ve had 40 years in which all income growth has been confined to those at the top, and where CEO pay has soared while employee pay has stayed flat or declined. We’re living in a time where the top corporations make more profit and have more money than at any point in history. But there’s no possible course for reform but to reward them by giving more to the very richest. Because that trickle is going to start if they just get a few trillion more. A few trillion more. Just … a little more.
Tax reform means take more money from everyone else and give it the rich. You probably knew that, but it’s always nice to have these things confirmed.
