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Cato Daily Dispatch for November 5, 2002

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Few Races Will Decide Control of Congress
Supreme Court to Hear Three Strikes Case
IRS's Rossetti Wants Money to Combat Tax Cheats

Few Races Will Decide Control of Congress

Voters head to the polls today to decide a tight struggle for control of Congress, with President Bush's Republicans pushing to retake the Senate and make history by expanding their majority in the House of Representatives, reports Reuters. After a campaign that shattered spending records but is unlikely to produce broad change, less than 10 Senate races and a few dozen House races are expected to determine which party holds power in Congress and will be in charge of considering Bush's legislative agenda and judicial nominees.

In a recent Cato Policy Analysis, "Election 2002 and the Problems of American Democracy", John Samples and Patrick Basham, director and senior fellow, respectively, at Cato's Center for Representative government, write about today's election and the issues important to voters. "An election that either ushers in a new era of expanded government or further cements the advantages of incumbency will serve neither the representative nor democratic functions of our political system," write Samples and Basham.

They argue that the perception of today's election as a horse race for control of Congress overshadows the overall poor health of the American political system, which is caused by a lack of competition as a result of incumbent advantage, the need for term limits, and a Congress full of career politicians.

Supreme Court to Hear Three Strikes Case

According to The Associated Press, a man who shoplifted $153 worth of videocassettes will be in prison until 2046. Another man got a life sentence after he put golf clubs down his pants leg and tried to walk out of a pro shop.

Their sentences are because of California's three-strikes-you're-out law. The Supreme Court is debating whether the law is too harsh. Justices are using the cases of two California thieves sent to prison for third offenses to decide if the resulting sentences are unconstitutional. The cases, being argued at the court today, ask if the punishment fits the crime. They also give justices another opportunity to consider what is cruel and unusual punishment.

In the Cato Policy Analysis, "Prison Blues: How America's Foolish Sentencing Policies Endanger Public Safety", David B. Kopel, Cato associate policy analyst and research director at the Independence Institute, writes, "To the extent that three-strikes laws are carefully drafted to include only serious violent felonies, the laws can be a helpful step forward. But to the extent that three-strikes laws include consensual offenses or make it impossible for judges to treat relatively less dangerous offenders differently than they do violent predators, such laws simply continue, rather than reform, the failed sentencing policies that endanger public safety."

IRS's Rossetti Wants Money to Combat Tax Cheats

Preparing to step down tomorrow after five years, the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Charles O. Rossotti, says the agency is steadily losing the war with tax cheats, especially the wealthiest and most sophisticated among them, according to The New York Times.

The Bush administration, which has yet to name a replacement for Rossotti, recognizes that tax cheating is widespread but says the I.R.S. is getting the right amount of money in its budget. And the administration stopped Rossotti from speaking his mind to Congress, according to three senior I.R.S. officials.

"While it may disappoint his supporters, the departure of scandal-tainted IRS commissioner Charles O. Rossotti is great news for taxpayers and the Bill of Rights," says Cato Fiscal Policy Analyst Veronique de Rugy. "As it is, his tenure has been highlighted by flagrant attacks on the Fourth Amendment and gross abuses of the regulatory process.

"And now, his parting request is for the IRS to get more taxpayers' money supposedly to fight tax evasion. Sadly, the commissioner forgets that good tax policy and low tax rates are far better ways to fight tax evasion. Hopefully, his replacement will understand this simple fact and less money will be wasted and our right to financial privacy will be restored," she says.

De Rugy details one of Rossetti's IRS projects in the Cato Daily Commentary, "The Latest IRS Scare Campaign".

Wyatt Dubois, editor, wdubois@cato.org