Baucus Untethered by Politics Seeks Path to Tax Rewrite

[Purveyor]

Max Baucus, declaring himself “unconstrained” by electoral politics for the first time since coming to Congress in 1975, placed a 20-month clock on his efforts to push a tax-code rewrite through the U.S. Senate.

In announcing that he won’t seek a seventh term in 2014, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee said he’ll concentrate on trying to forge a compromise on a core fiscal issue dividing Democrats and Republicans.

--CLIP
In theory, Baucus’s retirement and his renewed focus could improve chances of a tax rewrite that would curb breaks and lower rates. In practice, Baucus is the same lawmaker who has often frustrated Democrats by siding with Republicans, still operating in an environment that smothers bipartisan efforts.

--CLIP
Baucus, 71, has been the top Democrat on the Finance Committee since 2001, giving him sway over taxation, health care and entitlement programs. In that period, he has shepherded some Democratic priorities into law while breaking frequently from his party, drawing praise from Republicans for his willingness to work with them.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-24/baucus-untethered-by-politics-seeks-path-to-tax-rewrite.html

[LonePirate]

1. This is bad news. Rates do not need to be lowered.

We need to remove loopholes and deductions; but we definitely do not need to lower rates.

[SharonAnn]

7. I haven't agreed with anything he created, changed, or developed.

We definitely don't need lower tax rates, especially not for the well-off.

And we DO need estate taxes or we will be cementing ourselves into an ever larger, ever poorer population with an even fewer, even wealthier class of overlords. And thence, cometh the revolution!

[Robb]

2. Fuck that guy. He's been considering not running for months

...and couldn't be bothered to cast a "yea" vote for gun control?

[truebluegreen]

3. I wouldn't trust this guy with blunt scissors,

untethered by politics or not. In fact, that would probably be worse!

Snake.

[geek tragedy]

4. Fuck Max Baucus. May he be forever irrelevant from today forward. nt

[LiberalFighter]

5. Baucus has mostly acted as if he had syphilis of the brain.

Considering that his assets are listed $10k to $160k in mostly stocks and mutual funds doesn't say much about his financial savvy. I'm younger then he is and my annual wages were much lower than his congressional salary. Yet, my net worth is higher than his?

He has always been the wrong person for the Finance Committee.

[SharonAnn]

8. Well, I would guess he's lying or hiding his assets. Or they are in his wife's name, or somthing.

There's no way he has that little after 6 terms as Senator during which time he helped the wealthy and shafted the little guy.

[SunSeeker]

6. "Untethered by Politics"? Bullshit. He's just $etting himself up for his future lobbying job.

If he had a consience, if he felt untethered by politics, he would have voted for background checks. I don't trust that douchebag for one second.

[Wounded Bear]

9. "Revenue neutral?" That BS again...

we don't have a spending problem. We have a revenue problem.