While at his new job with the Red Cross, may he find redemption for the following:

• Implementing a program to privatize tax debt collection
• Privatizing regulations
• Offering early retirement to estate tax auditors
• Potentially politicizing tax collection (see OMB Watch's

In addition to his demurrer on the tax gap, as Matt notes below, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson also begged off yesterday on another matter of tax policy that had been a major Bush administration priority, telling the Senate Finance Committee: There isn't a major tax reform proposal being put forward now, and I don't see that on the dockets in the near future. So much for all that brave talk out of Congress about fundamental tax reform that we noted earlier this year, and the (now-languishing) recommendations offered in November 2005 by the president's own tax reform advisory commission.

Today's Wall Street Journal includes an odd squib, Bill to Raise Minimum Wage Might Include Tax Breaks. It opens, "Democratic tax writers hope to reach a deal on a minimum-wage bill that would include about $5 billion in tax breaks to help businesses affected by the higher pay levels."

Should current trends continue -- from higher payroll taxes to the potential impact of the Alternative Minimum Tax on middle-class earners -- the US system could tip from progressive to flat in a matter of years, at least for the top half of earners. And then tip back again.