Quotes from Bruce Bartlett

it is generally considered to be the best tax ever invented. It raises more revenue at less economic cost than any other tax. For this reason, many conservatives oppose it.

However, annexation was extremely popular throughout the South, and the issue was seized upon by former House Speaker and Tennessee Governor James K. Polk, whose strong support for bringing Texas into the Union propelled him to the Democratic nomination and the presidency.

In short, a tough fugitive slave law was absolutely essential to the continued viability of slavery. It was enacted only with overwhelming support from the Democratic Party.82

It's as if the concept of taxation as theft—rather than as a shared burden that all should contribute toward as the cost of maintaining a civil society—is now so widely shared that many people applaud those who have figured out how to game the system and pay less than their fair share rather than condemn them as social parasites who claim society's benefits without paying for them.

Tax reform may present another opportunity to address these issues and perhaps improve both the tax system and the health care system at the same time.

it took two full years for final congressional action on the Tax Reform Act of 1986 after the Treasury had already done a thorough analysis and put forward a detailed proposal.