HANOI: The U.S. Senate and House have passed differing versions of tax reform and leaders have reached an agreement to reconcile their differences all along party lines. Based on my personal background, I am dismayed and offended that Congress appears to have misguided priorities and loyalties.
As a 14 year old growing up in lubbock, texas, I first visited Washington, D.C. in June, 1959. As a participant in the National Spelling Bee, I met then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, a larger than life Texan, along with several other prominent congressional leaders.
For a young boy from West texas, the experience solidified my feelings that Congress had the best leadership our country offered, and always acted in the best interest of our nation as a whole. I had no doubt that R=republicans and Democrats would work together, and compromise if necessary, when passing new legislation. My faith in our government continued through 1965 when I joined the Marine Corps. I firmly believed, and still do, that Marines honor God, Country and the Corps, in that order.
After the end of the Vietnam War and my final year in Okinawa, I worked for a large accounting firm as a CPA and tax attorney. I knew of the lengthy negotiations and bipartisan meetings that led to passage of President Ronald Reagan’s signature tax Reform Act of 1986 a classic example of loyalty to country, whereby the president and Congress set aside party affiliation in favor of working together on a tax bill to benefit the nation as a whole versus select groups.
Although the GOP now professes to be following Reagan’s tax reform priorities of simplicity and fairness, little evidence of either aspect is incorporated within the current proposals. For example, having lower tax rates for special sources of income is contrary to other GOP stated goals of simplicity and fairness, with those low rates causing wage earners to subsidize other taxpayers.
