“The Advisory Panel was doomed from the start because President Bush insisted that it make permanent $1.3 trillion in tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest Americans, no matter the damage they do to our economy, our budget, or Social Security, Medicare and critical investments in our people. There was little the panel could do to address the gaping trillion-dollar hole in our budget. It’s like bailing water out of a boat with a giant hole in the bottom; it just won’t work.

“If we want reform, we need to put fairness, opportunity and simplicity first. That means ending the tax shift from wealth to work. It means ridding the tax code of wasteful loopholes and giveaways. It means valuing education and other investments that create opportunity. It means that some Americans shouldn’t pay less tax just because they can afford a better accountant. And it means it shouldn’t take a family 20 hours just to file their tax return. Those things will never happen so long as this process is driven by politics and special interests.”

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