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The only thing that separates progressives and conservatives when it comes to taxes is more or less  a matter of percentages: what is the best tax rate for each income bracket? Or, how much income tax should corporations pay? In fact, these debates are all variations on the same theme -- taxing wealth and income. A real distinction would start to arise if we started talking about changing what we tax.

Few professions have been spared from the corrupting effects of today's intense focus on profits and the bottom line within corporate America. The medical profession has been one of the most notable casualties of this push, as top drugmakers have showered doctors with ethically questionable or illegal financial incentives to prescribe certain drugs.

Two years after this disastrous decision it’s time to accept that it’s wrong, out-of-touch with modern political reality, and needs to be overturned.

Republicans have made a big deal about the need to streamline government, so you'd think they would have cheered President Obama on today when he proposed bold action to consolidate federal agencies to increase efficiencies and impact.

Of course, though, that's not how Washington works. Today's GOP is reflexively against nearly any idea proposed by Obama -- even if it's their own idea (like cutting taxes to stimulate the economy, as we saw in the payroll tax extension flap last month).

A new study from Indiana University predicts that, while unemployment might be at its lowest rate since February 2009, the ranks of the poor will continue to grow in this decade. At the heart of the problem are the 97 million Americans who, while not poor, make less than 200 percent of the poverty line, approximately $45,000 for a family of four.

Regardless of whether you think taxes should be increased or decreased, there is one point in which most people agree: Our current tax system is too complex and in desperate need of reform.

If you have listened to conservatives talking about taxes -- oh, for the past 30 years -- you might think the number one complaint Americans have about taxes is that they pay too much.

Wrong. In fact, past polls have often shown that Americans are more irked by the sense that the tax system is unfair.

The Office of the Taxpayer Advocate was established in the 1996 by Republicans in Congress who wanted a watchdog within the IRS that would look out for ordinary taxpayers.

So it is interesting to hear what the current Taxpayer Advocate, a woman named Nina Olson, has to say about how today's Congress is treating taxpayers.