Major tax reform is a tough political pill to take

Compare this example: Fresh from his re-election, President Bush is traveling the country trying to sell Social Security reform.

Most admit he's failing — as Congress is not showing a willingness to touch the "third rail" of American politics.

In part, Bush's problem is that most Americans realize the Social Security system doesn't start running out of money for 20 or 30 years. What's the big rush to "fix" it now?

Utah state government, between fiscal 2004 and 2005, is seeing revenue surpluses of more than $700 million — a record.

Former Gov. Olene Walker says good revenue times are when legislators should reform the state tax system — mainly because in a growing economy, extra money can be found to hold harmless taxpayer groups or state and local governments which otherwise would see either higher taxes or lost revenues.

But if government is going along so well, and if citizens aren't clamoring for tax cuts, then where is the political will to really anger a bunch of people by making changes those people don't want?

In short, Utah taxes, like Social Security, is not facing immediate crisis.

And so the end result of all this tax study may be more along the lines of tweaking the current system as opposed to really reforming it.

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Deseret News political editor Bob Bernick Jr. may be reached by e-mail at bbjr@desnews.com