Bradley and Tax Reform

[Max Sawicky]

JH: . . .
In any case, their point was . . . to argue that what was sold by
Rostenkowski and Bradley as "giving back to middle income taxpayers the
fairness they never thought would come" was doing nothing of the kind. . . .

mbs:
There are multiple dimensions of fairness.  One is
'horizontal equity,' which means equal treatment of
equals.  In tax terms, this means taxing different
types of income identically.  The '86 act did a lot
to rationalize the tax code in this sense.  I've
already said it wasn't a justifiable occasion
for left rejoicing or adulation of Bradley.
More like a 'good-government' victory, and
temporary in the sense that since '86 there
have been multiple complexities introduced
in the areas of capital gains and pensions.