Tax Policy

Yeah, this was over the top, but I liked it: (Subscription Link)

Seven members of the Finance Committee and one senator not on that committee have introduced legislation repealing the AMT. That list includes Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Senate Finance leaders Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and ranking member Max Baucus (D-MT), who recently equated the tax to evil-doer Darth Vader.

“The AMT has many of the same qualities as Anakin Skywalker,” he said. “The AMT was supposed to bring order and fairness to the tax world, but it eventually got off on the wrong path and became a threat to middle-income taxpayers. Both Skywalker and the AMT started off with great intentions, but eventually they went astray. And now we have the Darth Vader of the Tax Code bearing down on millions of unsuspecting families.”

This is humorous and, in this case, I would tend to agree with Baucus.  I will note, however, that Democratic senators have, of late, shown an alarming tendency to substitute parallels from Star Wars for actual policy analysis in their public speaking.  Very odd.