The Tax Reform Act of 1986: Should We Do It Again? - Bruce Bartlett

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/the-tax-reform-act-of-1986-should-we-do-it-again/

Once politicians make any exceptions to wiping the slate clean, they are on a slippery slope, because those benefiting from the next most popular deduction will be standing in line demanding an exception, too.
For these reasons, all tax reform plans premised on completely throwing out the tax code and starting from scratch are hopelessly utopian, with not the remotest possibility that any of them will ever be enacted. And support for them is not costless. Because so much political energy is channeled into the Fair Tax, the flat tax, the 9-9-9 plan and other proposals, very little is left over for changes that fall short of tearing the tax code out by its roots but are still needed.