Torch the Code

I think it is wrong to kick a man when he’s down. But don’t think for one minute that Robert Torricelli is down. He may not be running for reelection anymore, but he has no plans to leave politics. Instead, politics will now just become more lucrative for him– most likely as a million-dollar-a-year lobbyist for special interests. That sum is on top of the $52,500 annual pension taxpayers will provide for the rest of his life for his honorable service to the country.

Late last week, Secretary of the Treasury Paul O’Neill announced that by the end of the year he would be forwarding recommendations to President Bush on how to fundamentally reform the tax code. CSE has written a great deal about why we need fundamental tax reform. The current code is a 44,000-page catalog of favors for special interests and a chamber of horrors for the rest of America. But Senator Torricelli’s announcement, and his likely new profession, provides an important insight into why the American people need to rise up and demand a simple, fair, low, and honest tax code.

Torricelli will be a hugely successful lobbyist. As The Washington Post pointed out, “Torricelli’s unrelenting pursuit of money for the Democrats broke all records.” Torricelli himself boasts of, “Having raised more money for the Democratic Party than anybody else in the caucus, and I think having raised more money for the DSCC than any other three senators combined.” He didn’t raise that money from poor and middle class Americans who face higher tax burdens in part because of the long litany of spending programs he took credit for in his withdrawal speech. No, he raised that money from well-heeled special interests and those same interests will now hire him to protect their favored piece of the tax code.

Why would they hire Bob Torricelli? – Because he knows how to work the system. He may not have been well liked, and the Senate Ethics Committee thinks he broke several rules, but no one disputes that Torricelli understood how the legislative game is played. According to The Washington Post, “Even in his heyday, Torricelli was not a popular politician; colleagues say he specialized in being needed more than wanted.” That’s exactly what you need if you are trying to slip a lucrative provision into the tax code. If you are a special interest you want a guy who works relentlessly at the game and finds a way to make himself needed. So Torricelli will continue to raise money for his former Democrat colleagues. He will find a way to do as many favors as possible for politicians and their staff. And he will ask them to slip a few provisions in to tax legislation from time to time – and if nobody is watching, he will succeed.

Senator Torricelli will only be unique in the sense that he is likely to be really good at it. But there are 16,000 lobbyists in Washington paid to nothing but what I just described. 16,000 lobbyists work the political and legislative system to defend their clients’ special tax provisions.

Can Secretary O’Neil take on these special interests and hope to achieve fundamental tax reform? I think the answer is a resounding yes – if the American people want reform. The tax lobbyists thrive in a culture of silence. They win when no one is looking. But if there is a ground swell of support for reform, the politicians will protect themselves first – and give the people who elect them what they want. Secretary O’Neil also has a powerful ally in the president of the United States. If President Bush is willing to use the bully pulpit, he can have an enormous influence over the fate of tax reform.

But we need to do our part. You can start by signing CSE’s tax reform petition. You can also use the CSE web site to write Secretary O’Neill and thank him for his efforts and urge that he push for real and fundamental reform that simplifies the code for all Americans.

This fight will not be easy. But perhaps the retirement of Senator Torricelli can serve as a catalyst to spring activists into action and to finally force Congress to “Torch the Code.”