Compromise Tax Plan Falls Short

Updated from 12:29 p.m. EDT

We've all been taught to think of compromise as the noble endeavor to reach a mutually agreeable solution. Leave it to Congress to work toward another meaning -- compromise as a mishmash of ideas that provide no solution.

Thanks to some final wrangling Wednesday night, Congress is expected to agree upon a tax-cut package Friday. After months of squabbling over how much of President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut plan should be included in the budget (estimates ranged from zero in the Senate to $726 billion in the House), congressional leaders have pulled elements from each of their plans to arrive at an ad hoc tax plan that still could change at any moment. (Click here for the Senate's plan and here for the House plan.)

"I'm certain that no one is happy with this plan," says Tom Oschenschlager, tax partner with Grant Thornton in Washington. "It didn't come close to its advanced publicity." ...