The Real Scandal at the IRS
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June 4 (Bloomberg) -- Republicans on Capitol Hill are abuzzwith the possibility that the scandal at the Internal RevenueService will lead to tax reform. Media strategist Frank Luntz isadvising them to harness public outrage to reach this goal.
This path will dead-end. Republican tax-reform plans remainvague, because that’s the way they stay popular. And the leadingRepublican tax-reform ideas have no real relation to the factsof the scandal. Republicans generally want to broaden the taxbase, lower rates and reduce the number of brackets. The IRScould have harassed conservative groups applying for tax-exemptstatus -- the core of the current scandal -- even if we did allof these things with a flat tax.