Albert R. Hunt, Columnist

It's Been 31 Years Since the Last Tax Overhaul. Here's Why.

The politics of taxation was brutal in 1986. It's worse today. Good luck, Trump and Ryan.

February 21, 2017 at 12:30 PM UTC

Albert R. Hunt is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was the executive editor of Bloomberg News, before which he was a reporter, bureau chief and executive Washington editor at the Wall Street Journal.

Packwood and Bradley could cut a deal. Who does that today?
Photographer: Win McNamee/Getty Images

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President Donald Trump has promised the most comprehensive overhaul of the tax system since 1986. That was when a Republican president joined forces with a Democratic House of Representatives and a Republican Senate to lower personal income-tax rates and simplify a messy and outdated tax system.

Today, Republicans control both houses of Congress as well as the White House. Democrats agree with them that the system has once again become messy and outdated. So in theory it should be easier to reach agreement now than it was then.