A Taxing Session Gets Comic Relief

Comedian Don Rickles probably doesn’t have to worry about losing his job. But as the Senate Finance Committee began the arduous process of writing a tax bill, the barbed humor among panel members revealed many of the barely concealed disagreements that are likely to emerge even more starkly in the weeks ahead.

As senators began by heaping praise on panel Chairman Bob Packwood (R-Ore.)--only to object to many of his specific proposals--he interrupted Sen. John H. Chafee (R-R.I.) to say: “Much as I appreciate the opening statements, I take umbrage at the rest of the comments.”

Chafee replied: “I didn’t laud your work; I lauded your effort,” prompting Packwood to say he would get even at their afternoon squash match.

Sen. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), one of the few committee members firmly committed to tax revision, acidly complained that most senators want to protect pet provisions in the bill rather than support the overall goals of lower tax rates and a more equitable tax burden. The committee’s task, he said, would be to “try to separate the sacred cows from the merely holy.”

As the panel raced to finish for the day before a coming vote on the Senate floor, Packwood told Sen. Spark M. Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) that he only had about 90 seconds for his opening remarks. “It would take me five minutes just to sing the praises of the chairman,” Matsunaga replied. “In that case,” Packwood said, “you have 6 1/2 minutes.”

And Sen. Dave Durenberger (R-Minn.), coming in near the end of the session, expressed a widely held fear among panel members about the tax-revision effort. “If Patrick Henry thought that taxation without representation was bad,” Durenberger said, “he should see how bad it is with representation.”