Wealth & Money Quote by Richard Neal

Tax simplification is the kind of applause line Washington can always sell: everyone hates complexity, everyone claims they can fix it, and almost no one wants to touch the interests that thrive inside it. Richard Neal uses that shared cynicism as his opening move. By conceding that simplification is "very difficult", he inoculates himself against the obvious rebuttal: if it were easy, it would have happened already. The phrase "we all know" is a quiet bid for bipartisan credibility, a wink at insiders and frustrated taxpayers alike.

Then he pivots to the real target: the Alternative Minimum Tax, a creature of good intentions turned bureaucratic boomerang. Mentioning that he has offered a bill for "the last three Congresses" is less nostalgia than résumé-as-pressure tactic. It signals persistence, but also calls out institutional inertia and, indirectly, the revolving cast of colleagues who praise reform while letting the AMT linger.

The most loaded phrase is "paid-for repeal". In today’s fiscal politics, "repeal" often reads as code for giveaways; "paid-for" is Neal’s attempt to preempt that attack. He’s telling deficit hawks, scorekeepers, and editorial boards that this isn’t ideological demolition, it’s technocratic housekeeping. Subtext: I’m not promising magic; I’m offering a specific, budget-responsible trade.

Context matters: Neal, a long-time tax-writer, is speaking as a committee insider trying to frame competence as moral seriousness. The quote works because it blends humility (hard problem), endurance (three Congresses), and credibility (paid-for) into a message aimed at the one thing tax policy rarely delivers: trust.