The landmark Tax Reform Act of 1986 would never have happened without Jack Kemp. The voluble supply-sider, who died yesterday at 73, helped make tax reform, and not just tax cuts, acceptable to Republicans. As early as 1977, then-congressman Kemp and Senator Bill Roth (R-DE) pushed a bill that would have reduced tax rates across-the-board. In 1983, Kemp bucked many in his party by making back-channel overtures to Democratic tax reformer Senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.)—an effort recounted in Jeff Birnbaum’s and Alan Murray’s Showdown at Gucci Gulch. Bradley and Kemp shared a key political insight: If you can get rates low enough, you will ease the pressure to create, and protect, tax loopholes.

Government employees often get a bad rap. Conservative pundits like to characterize them as pampered deadwood—a waste of taxpayer dollars. The truth is that many work tirelessly under challenging conditions, earning a fraction of what they might in the private sector, to advance the public interest.

President Obama said last night he was going to request $1.5 billion to help address the swine flu outbreak. I wish he had also promised to find the dough to pay for this initiative. But, he didn’t. This follows a troubling, and ongoing, pattern. Obama and the congressional Democrats say they recognize the consequences of burgeoning deficits and promise to address the problem—next time.

Earlier this week the Washington Post published an article painting the Administration’s tax plan as one that would burden small business owners with soaring tax payments. In stark contrast, a Post editorial run just two weeks earlier—“The Small Business Myth”—debunked claims that Obama’s plan unfairly targeted business owners. Which Washington Post piece is right?

A new package of anti-swine flu tax incentives was introduced in the House today. The three-pronged package would provide a new tax credit for businesses that purchase liquid hand sanitizers, make it easier for state and local governments to sell tax-exempt bonds to finance swine flu first-response teams, and provide a new deduction for automobile air handlers.

It’s been more than two months since President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) into law, so where’s the money? Most workers saw a small boost in take-home pay earlier this month, thanks to withholding changes their employers made to implement the Making Work Pay tax credit. Many retirees have received their $250 piece of the stimulus pie. Some people who bought homes this year undoubtedly claimed the $8,000 first-time homebuyers credit on their 2008 tax returns. But most of us will have to wait until we file our 2009 returns next spring to get the rest of the tax bennies.

Jan Kinney, Tax Legislative Coordinator at Steptoe & Johnson, LLP, a Washington law firm with a significant tax practice, puts together a very handy daily tax update. When Congress is in session, it includes lists of newly introduced tax legislation. Here’s the list for April 22.

It seems TPC has gone green. Len Burman has told us what he thinks of the bike subsidy (not much) and Rosanne Altshuler has struggled to figure out what tax breaks she can get for installing energy efficient windows. Not to be outdone, here is my own contribution: Big tax subsidies to encourage production of ethanol have helped yield two results: They have contributed to an increase of as much as 15 percent in the cost of food, and they have produced no measurable reduction in auto-related greenhouse gas emissions. Oops.

As a bike freak and a tax geek, you’d think that I’d be thrilled about the new tax break for qualified bicycle-commuting reimbursement. I’ve been riding my bike to work for 30 years, so this new tax expenditure has my name written all over it. The biker in me wants to cry out, “It’s about time!” But the tax geek just groans.

Among the many perks firms offer to their top executives, one of the less well-known is the “gross-up,” cash payments given to cover the tax on other perks such as the use of the corporate jet, club memberships, and golden parachutes. And, of course, the gross-up is itself grossed up to include the tax due on it: each payment generates yet another to cover more tax.