Given that this is an election year politicians across the country are looking for simple talking points that voters can latch onto without doing any of the requisite thinking typically required for crafting public policy. In Michigan US Representative Kerry Bentivolio has offered up an excellent example of how politicians pander to low information voters.
In an editorial piece in the Detroit News Representative Bentivolio advocates for the repeal of the 16th amendment which provides congress with the ability to levy taxes. According to the representative the 16th amendment has "outlived its usefulness, and, as the investigation into the targeting of conservative groups has shown, the IRS has become an intrusive bureaucracy that too many of our fellow citizens fear."
The logic here is embarrassingly simplistic and ignorant. Perhaps there are valid reasons to replace the 16th amendment but the representative’s opinion on an amendment's usefulness is not one of them. Nor is the representative’s perceived fear level of the US citizenry. If that is all it takes to repeal an amendment to the constitution it would be considerably easier to argue that the second amendment generates far more fear among US citizens as well as outliving its usefulness. After all what gun toting militia stands a chance against the most powerful military in the history of the world?
Beyond that in the 225 year history of the constitution there has been a total of one successful repeal. Making this repeal a key component of his legislative goals shows just how serious Representative Bentivolio really is about the job he was elected to do. He would be better off promising to get the moon base, that Newt Gingrich made part of his presidential campaign, built and operational than he will of getting this amendment repealed.
Of course if Representative Bentivolio is just looking to appease US citizens and assuage fears he could offer to hold banks and their decision makers accountable for plunging the economy into a devastating recession, that affected far more people than the few political action committees that were forced to prove they weren't breaking the law.
Perhaps more concerning than the insincerity the representative exposes with his trite rationale is the complete lack of ideas the legislation he supports represents. What would H. J. Res. 104 do to make the "tax code fairer and easier to understand"? Nothing.
Instead Representative Bentivolio says "This repeal will eliminate the personal and corporate income tax, the estate and gift taxes, and taxes on investment earnings at the federal level. After ratification, Congress and the states will have two years to decide on an alternative plan to raise revenue for the federal government. If no agreement can be reached within the two-year time frame, the current system would continue as if nothing had changed."
One imagines that the voters of Michigan's 11th district had hoped their representative would go to Washington and solve any number of available problems. Instead Representative Bentivolio seems content to let others do the heavy lifting while he sits and the sidelines hurling insults like the grumpy old white guys in the balcony of a Muppets show.
In the end that fact that Representative Bentivolio believes a full frontal assault on the 16th amendment exemplifies a valuable use of tax payer’s time and money suggests perhaps his time in the House is what has truly outlived its usefulness.
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