The New York Times 2010s: on Tax Reform

Bob Hugin: Opposes new $10K cap on deductions for state & local taxes

Bill Weld: I am releasing my returns and Trump should release his

DONALD TRUMP: So ridiculous. I have a great balance sheet. When I did the old post office on Pennsylvania Avenue, the United States government because of my balance sheet, which they actually know very well, chose me to do the old post office between the White House and Congress.

Q [to WELD]: You successfully brought taxes down as governor of Massachusetts. Whose tax plan makes more sense to you?

BILL WELD: Advantage Trump on tax plans, though his is not detailed.

Q: What does it mean to you that Mr. Trump has not released his tax returns?

BILL WELD: Yes, of course he should make his tax returns public. (Two years of mine will be out next week).

Jeb Bush: 1994: Require voter approval of any new taxes

Scott Brown: Never raise taxes in a recession; it hurts job creators

Brown said he would never raise taxes on anyone and particularly not in the midst of a three-year recession, because doing so would hurt the "job creators" and crush small businesses.

George Allen: No tax increases; no defense cuts; no bargaining

Allen, who has made those defense cuts the centerpiece of his campaign of late, offered only vague solutions. He said repealing President Obama's health care law would help; and he proposed a flat tax that households could voluntarily choose over the existing tax code.

What he said repeatedly was that he would not entertain any tax increases to solve nation's budget morass or keep the government from heading off a "fiscal cliff" in January, when all Bush-era tax cuts expire and across-the-board spending cuts go into force. He accused Democrats of using the pending defense cuts to force Republicans to bargain over taxes. "The men and women in our armed forces should never be used as bargaining chips to raise taxes on job-creating small businesses," he said.

Bob Turner: No anti-tax pledge; keep taxes on the negotiation table

Long asked Turner to defend his stance that raising taxes should be on the table in negotiations over reducing the country's budget deficit and debt. "I just think that we can't ever put those on the table," Long said. "Your willingness to put them on the table sounds to me sort of like the policies of Barack Obama and Kirsten Gillibrand."

Turner, noting that the White House and the Senate were held by Democrats, struck a tone of practicality and said that for anything to get done, "we're going to have to talk it out. I'm not going into the negotiations--and I don't think any Republican should go into the negotiations--and say, 'This is how it's going to be,' " he said.

George Maragos: No-tax pledge; teach the rest of Congress economic theory

Maragos, who accused his opponents of "continued indecision" in defining their stances on tax issues, did not talk of compromise. Asked how he would work with Democrats in Washington like Senator Charles Schumer, he pivoted to discussing his decades of business experience in the financial industry.

"I think I would start by trying to teach some of our Congress people some economic theory," Maragos said. "Unfortunately in Congress we have a lot of attorneys but very few economists and very few business people."

Turner was puzzled. "I think George's suggestion that we school Senator Schumer in economic reality would be an interesting challenge," he said.

Joe DioGuardi: Fined by IRS in 1978 for deducting commodity spreads

DIOGUARDI REFUTATION: The year prior to the IRS filing against DioGuardi, the treatment of commodity spreads--which was a practice that was commonly used and recommended by leading accountant firms in the 1970s--was amended. When his family filed their taxes that year, the updated law was not realized.

At that time, taxpayers were subject to a punitive top tax rate of 70%--and Joe sought to protect his family from over-taxation. The tax system was broken, and like many Americans, Joe took steps to reduce his tax burden.

The challenge to the DioGuardi tax return was the result of a new ruling issued by the IRS that changed the treatment of commodity spreads--it had not been a longstanding tax law. The IRS challenged the DioGuardi family tax return in 1978. In the previous year, the IRS issued a ruling that it would no longer accept a tax deduction for losses sustained on those trades. (The Washington Post , 12/21/80)