Campaign Reform T ax reform is also powerful because it is the ultimate political reform. If there is such a thing as a McCain voter, it is someone who is sick and tired of the way Washington works. And nothing exemplifies how Washington works more clearly than the current, bloated, frustrating, unfair tax code. The vast majority of the lobbyists in Washington have a stake in some part of the tax code. Replace the tax code, and you eliminate most of the lobbyists in one fell swoop.
Tax reform is campaign-finance reform.
It's reform that cleans up Washington. Our tax code is revolting Whether it's reducing a particular tax or reforming the entire tax code, the issue is fairness. The party that captures the tax-fairness message is the one that is most likely to capture the political reform message and thus win the election. Therefore, if we want to win the election, we must ride the tax fairness issue. We need to explain each of our tax agenda items in terms of basic fairness, link that tax fairness to the need for overall tax reform, and then explain why overall tax reform is political reform.