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Bernie Sanders Declines Secrecy Offer on Tax Plan Because He Has Nothing to Hide
Double win for Bernie.
First, because he's actually fighting for most of the people in the country with his proposals.
Second, because he has exposed this odious bit of legislative behavior.
Baucus and Hatch previously decided that to design tax reform legislation, they would create a "blank slate" process, in which senators have to argue for the various credits and deductions that they would like to see kept in the tax code. That's not yet a blow to transparency yet although it has been a cash cow for K Street.
Here's the troubling part, from the perspective of transparency:
The Senate’s top tax writers have promised their colleagues 50 years worth of secrecy in exchange for suggestions on what deductions and credits to preserve in tax reform.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), assured lawmakers that any submission they receive will be kept under lock and key by the committee and the National Archives until the end of 2064.
Deeming the submissions confidential, the Senate’s top tax writers have said only certain staff members — 10 in all — will get direct access to a senator’s written suggestions. Each submission will also be given its own ID number and be kept on password-protected servers, with printed versions kept in locked safes.
http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/313259-senates-tax-writers-offering-50-years-of-secrecy
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and the panel’s top Republican, Sen. Orrin Hatch (Utah), assured lawmakers that any submission they receive will be kept under lock and key by the committee and the National Archives until the end of 2064.
Deeming the submissions confidential, the Senate’s top tax writers have said only certain staff members — 10 in all — will get direct access to a senator’s written suggestions. Each submission will also be given its own ID number and be kept on password-protected servers, with printed versions kept in locked safes.
In other words, Baucus and Hatch believe that you, the voting public, have no right to know what your senators want to see in the tax code. That is an affront to transparency and democratic accountability because we cannot keep our legislators accountable if we do not even know what they are proposing and how they are laying out their priorities. If senators would like to see elements of the tax code changed, then they should be willing to stand up for their beliefs and share them with the public--both in their home state and in the country at large.
The deadline for tax proposals was yesterday. We'll see how many senators are willing to include the public in the discussion. I know we at least have one: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In his letter to Baucus and Hatch, Bernie Sanders turned down the offer for secrecy, noting that he had nothing to hide:
[div class="excerpt"]“Given the fact that my suggestions represent the interests of the middle class of this country and not powerful corporate special interests, I have no problem with making them public."
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/07/27/1226928/-Bernie-Sanders-Declines-Secrecy-on-Tax-Plan-Because-He-Has-Nothing-to-Hide
45 replies
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for giving the corrupt bastards the finger.
Of course he will.
it's that I can always count on good ol' Barry.
The government wants to know our most personal affairs --- yet the government which is responsible to us prefers to itself operate in secrecy without our knowledge... 
k&r
