tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post4211556664038384721..comments2023-10-16T07:13:12.123-05:00Comments on A plain blog about politics: Short Bills = Bureaucratic GovernanceJonathan Bernsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15931039630306253241noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-3665176223773492172011-06-08T19:00:30.108-05:002011-06-08T19:00:30.108-05:00I agree with you, we will continue to need long bi...I agree with you, we will continue to need long bills.<br /><br />I'm less sure about tax bills in particular, where the correlation of length and loopholes seems high. What would you think of a standing rule that any bill must maintain or decrease the total size of the tax code?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6926413038778731189.post-86183376126595040652011-06-08T18:57:29.027-05:002011-06-08T18:57:29.027-05:00Not that this is what the tea partiers are thinkin...Not that this is what the tea partiers are thinking, but there is some benefit to allowing bureaucracies greater flexibility in policymaking. As Jonathan points out, lawmakers give up power in doing this, so there is a real tradeoff. But short of demanding that everything fit on the back of a cocktail napkin, a reasonable case can be made for brevity in laws. Of course, my libertarian policy preference is generally for no laws, and I wouldn’t mind seeing thousands of Federal criminal statutes get repealed altogether.Couveshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00926561539205771774noreply@blogger.com