Sen. Max Baucus moves to reshape tax code

Last month, Sen. Max Baucus summoned members of the Senate Finance Committee to a closed-door meeting to discuss the first full-scale rewrite of the 5,600-page U.S. tax code in more than 25 years.

The task would be gargantuan, and much of Washington has called it impossible in these contentious times. But after two years of watching President Obama and congressional leaders take on tax policy and other areas of the committee’s vast jurisdiction, the Montana Democrat who is the panel’s chairman was ready to reclaim his turf.

"Everyone wants to get rid of these loopholes. The question is what to do with the revenue," Baucus said. "Republicans want to use it for rate reduction. Democrats want debt reduction. And I said to the committee, ‘That’s the 800-pound gorilla in the room here. We all know that. Let’s postpone a decision on that and work through the code and see how much this base-broadening actually gets us.’ "

By Lori Montgomery

Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/sen-max-baucus-moves-to-reshape-tax-code/2013/04/08/e7f3435a-9dff-11e2-9a79-eb5280c81c63_story.html