Jingle all the way to the tax-cut finish line

Republicans have very nearly finalized their tax reform legislation. We hope they iron out last-minute disagreements and pass it without delay. It will make Christmas merrier.

Republican senators and the Senate leadership owe it to the public to be flexible with one another lest so much work on such a crucial bill be squandered.

Reform has been a very long time coming. Regardless of the top marginal tax rates, the tax code’s complexity, unfairness, and distortion of economic activity have continued unabated for decades. The only worthy regret about this reform package, the biggest in more than 30 years, is that it couldn’t have been more comprehensive. A good case could have been made, but wasn't, for starting over from scratch. In an imperfect world, however, a step in the right direction is often the best outcome. And certainly in this case, it is much better than leaving things as they are.

Debate over this bill has been dishonest. Hyperventilating Democrats, like so many Chicken Littles, predict the end of America or even the world because the corporate tax rate will come down to 20-21 percent. You'd think from their squawking that the 35 percent rate is what made America great. We checked the wording of the Constitution and the national anthem and can reassure that the current world-beating rate is not mentioned there.

Unlike standard political rhetoric, which lends credibility to lies by adopting a semblance of truth, Democratic argument on this reform bill has been so excessive that it rings hollow, and has thus failed to capture the public’s imagination. Even the shopworn premise that this bill (like all Republican tax bills, apparently) is a "giveaway" to the rich is simply not credible this time. Far from cutting taxes for the wealthy at the expense of the poor, the GOP reform's simplification of the individual income tax will overwhelmingly help families with children and lower or middle incomes. These are the people most likely to take the standard deduction, and who pay a higher percentage of their income in corporate taxes when businesses, inevitably, pass on their high tax bills to consumers in higher prices.