Late last week, as reported in this Philadelphia Inquirer story and elsewhere, leaders of the Congressional majority decided to defer consideration of the many tax issues confronting the nation until after the election. At a minimum, 2010 will be 90 percent completed before there is any action on these pressing matters, and there still is no guarantee that anything will get accomplished before the end of the year. The stated reason is that the majority party has failed to reach a consensus. The majority whip was more forthcoming, explaining that “many lawmakers would prefer to be home campaigning.” A Senator from the minority party claims that the majority party is “in charge” and hasn’t “done anything” about the problem, but the majority party claims that it cannot do anything with bipartisan support and accuses the minority party of holding extension of middle-income and lower-income tax rate reductions “hostage” in an effort extend tax rate reductions for the wealthy. Yet the majority party seems reluctant to schedule a vote on the issue, perhaps worried that failure to extend tax breaks for the wealthy while providing them for the vast majority of taxpayers will get twisted into political campaign sound bites that make those uneducated in tax law conclude that their taxes have, in fact, been raised. How much easier it would be if politicians simply told the truth instead of trying to spin things from reality into campaign slogans. Yet the minority party has just enough votes to block the majority party from doing anything, because of the bizarre “you need 60, not 51, votes to get something done” rule in the Senate.

There are practical problems to the delay. Treasury and the IRS need lead time to prepare withholding tables for 2011. It’s almost impossible to issue those tables if Congress waits, as it has in the past, until late December before acting. Estate planners trying to write wills for their clients are left in a position requiring them to draft clauses packed with alternative provisions, each geared to one of the many possibilities that exist for the scope of the estate tax in 2011 and beyond. Those managing the estates of individuals who died in 2010 are stuck, trying to hedge against the possibility of retroactive estate tax increases. Individuals and businesses trying to make decisions, such as whether to make purchases or to hire employees in 2010 or 2011, are in limbo waiting to see what the tax rules will be in 2011.

At the beginning of this year, in A Zero Tax, A Zero Congress, I wrote:

What I can offer is my condemnation of the Congress for putting America into yet another economic mess. Several commentators have noted, cynically perhaps, that members of Congress benefit from having the estate tax issue held open because it encourages lobbyists for the various positions to rustle up more cash for the campaign coffers of members of Congress. Far be it for me to criticize a cynical observation. Truth be told, I think these commentators are making a valid point. It's not unlike members of Congress to put personal objectives, including raising re-election funds and grabbing power, ahead of what needs to be done for the national economic good. One look at the bribery involved in crafting a health care bill tells us quite a bit about the value system in play on Capitol Hill.

This perspective is reinforced by the comments made by members of Congress that they prefer to be campaigning, rather than serving the nation’s interest by staying in Washington and handling their legislative responsibilities while the electorate watches and expresses its collective evaluation at the voting booth based on what Congress does rather than what it says on the campaign trail. In the same post, I also noted, in trying to find words to describe the Congressional inaction:

Irresponsible is my favorite. Short-sighted is another good one. Unwise, incompetent, and outrageous also come to mind. There also are some phrases that can be used. Derelict in its duty. A breach of its fiduciary obligation. . . . . There may not be any constitutional requirement that Congress do its job properly and in a timely manner, nor a provision that prohibits the Congress from creating the mess in the first place. Nor is there any statute that can be invoked to compel the Congress to live up to its responsibilities, particularly when the responsibility is one of its own making. But there is more to law than just a constitution and statutes, regulations and cases, rulings and decrees. There is a moral imperative, an overarching array of dedication to the national interest, respect for the citizens, decent treatment of the taxpayers, adherence to diligence, integrity, common sense, and fiduciary duty, and a deep understanding of the difference between the good and the expedient. Whether the Congress ever had or exercised this set of values is debatable, but what's not in dispute is the conclusion that the current Congress fails miserably in this regard. It is morally bankrupt. It earns a zero.

Nothing that has happened during the past week changes my mind. On this question of dealing with the tax law, the Congress earned a zero in January, it has earned zeroes throughout the year, and it earned yet another zero by announcing that it was going to go campaign rather than do its job. The answer to the question raised in the post title, can a zero Congress persist forever, is no. At some point, something or someone will yield. The question is when, and it won’t be soon. That’s too bad for the nation.