Tax Reform

President Obama is demanding a long-term budget deal, asking, "If not now, when?" How about in December, when he ignored his own debt commission? How about February, when he presented a budget that increases debt by $10 trillion over a decade? How about April, when he sought a debt-ceiling increase with no debt reduction? All of a sudden, he's a born-again budget balancer prepared to take on his own party with deep cuts in entitlements. Really? Name one. He's been saying he's prepared to discuss, engage, converse about entitlement cuts.

The most serious charge against Rep. Paul Ryan's budget is not the risible claim, made most prominently by President Obama in his George Washington University address, that it would "sacrifice the America we believe in. " The serious charge is that the Ryan plan fails by its own standards: that because it only cuts spending without raising taxes, it accumulates trillions in debt and doesn't balance the budget until the 2030s. If the debt is such a national emergency, they say, Ryan never really gets you there from here.

TRENTON - New Jersey lawmakers will vote Thursday on adopting a corporate tax break that is intended to reward multistate businesses that hire and expand in the state but that would cost millions of dollars in lost revenue. The measure is known as the single-sales factor, under which the amount of profit subject to New Jersey taxes is based only on a company's sales. Moving to that system benefits corporations that sell to a national market but have numerous employees and property in New Jersey.

Get used to hearing the term road map in 2011. Not the Mideast version, with two opposing sides and no room for compromise. This is a Washington road map with ... OK, bad example. The D.C. road map comes courtesy of Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, one of the GOP's best and brightest in matters of fiscal discipline and pro-growth economic policies. With his comprehensive Road Map for America's Future, Ryan aims to eliminate the short-term deficits and pay off long-term debts, make entitlements and health care both affordable and sustainable, and promote taxes and budgets that encourage economic expansion.

Mayor Nutter wants residents to know that property-tax reform will move forward, despite a state Supreme Court ruling that will allow the Board of Revision of Taxes to stay in place to hear appeals. Voters in May cast ballots to abolish the embattled BRT and replace it with the Office of Property Assessment and an independent Board of Property Assessment Appeals. But the court ruled that only the General Assembly could eliminate the BRT. However, the ruling does confirm the city's right to take over the work of assessing properties, a decision Nutter hailed as a victory.

RECENTLY asked via TV news: How can government create a jobs machine? Best jobs machine I ever saw was the historical tax credit for rehabbing old buildings. But in the mid- to late '80s, Democratic Rep. Dan Rostenkowski of Chicago rallied for tax reform across the board, and government gutted the program. Many professions and neighborhoods were adversely affected. The tax credits would've brought a substantial dose of energy and jobs. Old City was a big winner, but the city still has vast areas with abandoned historic buildings hoping for a new lease on life.

TRENTON - Gov. Christie unveiled a sweeping package of proposals aimed at solving the state's "property-tax crisis" Monday, minutes after Democratic legislative leaders proposed reinstating an income-tax surcharge on residents who earn more than $1 million a year. On a day of especially sharp exchanges among political leaders, and with the deadline for a completed state budget less than two months away, the governor said his plan would require passage of 33 pieces of legislation.

THE proposal by Gov. Rendell to broaden the state's sales tax would make things worse, not better, for the state's economy and budget. There may be an economically sound policy argument for broadening the sales-tax base, but he doesn't make the case. Rendell would raise taxes by $1.4 billion over two years while improperly exempting food, the arts and clothing. So he's not really broadening the base. His plan also would double-tax tobacco products and telecom services, which already bear significant excise taxes.

In 1986, Ronald Reagan and Bill Bradley created a legislative miracle. They fashioned a tax reform that stripped loopholes, political favors, payoffs, patronage, and other corruptions out of the system. With the resulting savings, they lowered tax rates across the board. Those reductions, combined with the elimination of the enormous inefficiencies and perverse incentives that go into tax sheltering, helped propel a 20-year economic boom. For overhauling any segment of our economy, the 1986 tax reform should be the model.

We are awash in reports of corporate excess in the form of salaries, bonuses, lavish office decorations, and company retreats. But even though it's equally pernicious, excess of another kind has received less attention: tax-deductible expenses for business entertainment. Suppose Penny, an administrative assistant, and her husband, Buck, go to a professional basketball game, paying $50 a seat to sit in the nosebleed section. Rich, Penny's boss, attends the same game, accompanied by a client.