Re: Privatization ad absurdum

["David B. Shemano" <dshemano@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Michael Perelman writes:

>> David Cay Johnston, who does a masterful job covering the IRS, reports that the IRS
>> is letting tax lawyers craft tax laws.  Why not leave the insurgency help to write
>> the rules of engagement in Iraq; or the narco trafficers write the drug laws; or if
>> you really want to turn matters over to scoundrels, let Congress write rules to
>> cover its own behavior ....  Wait a minute.  They already do that.
>>
>> Johnston, David Cay. 2007. "I.R.S. Letting Tax Lawyers Write Rules." (9 March): p. C
>> 1.
>>
>> "The Internal Revenue Service is asking tax lawyers and accountants who create tax
>> shelters and exploit loopholes to take the lead in writing some of its new tax
>> rules.  The pilot project represents a further expansion of the increasingly common
>> federal government practice of asking outsiders to do more of its work."

Isn't this how legislation should be written in a democracy-- as a collaborative process between the rulers and the ruled?  Since the tax lawyers are the ones who will have to interpret and apply the tax rules, doesn't it make sense to involve them in the drafting process to avoid unnecessary ambiguity?  I don't get what appears to be a reflexive emotional response to some unidentified impropriety.

David Shemano