One Step Forward, Several Dozen Back

The Economist suggests that if Bush is eager to wrap himeself in the (thus far ill-fitting) mantle of Reagan, he might want to break the glass case around his veto pen and block the bloated corporate tax bill just passed by both house and senate. The hefty tax cuts included may sound nice, but it shouldn't take over 900 pages, the size of the Senate version of the bill, to cut tax rates: The bill is packed with market-distorting provisions designed to assist specific industries and firms, "offsetting" tax increases elsewhere, and multi-billion dollar bailout for tobacco growers.