(To the tune of Love and Marriage by Sammy Cahn and Jimmy Van Heusen and introduced by Frank Sinatra in the 1955 TV production of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town.”)
Tax reforming, tax reforming,
Mention it and battle-lines start forming,
“Don’t touch MY deductions
Lest you favor job reductions.”
Tax reforming, tax reforming,
Going to take some serious brain-storming.
Hear NGOs explaining,
“Charities are worth sustaining.”
Bills to minimize deductions
Meet opposition.
Donors roar until the bill’s
Withdrawn, with no contrition.
Tax reforming, tax reforming,
Harder sell than even climate warming.
The devil’s in the details.
And that explains
And that explains
Why nearly every effort derails.
It was back in Eighty-Six—the
last year they wrote one.
Our Code needs another fix—but
don’t bet they’ll vote one.
Tax reforming, tax reforming,
Talk of it and lobbyists seen swarming.
Rumble like an earthquake.
And that explains
And that explains
Why tax reforming’s a big headache.