>>Let's look at this from a purely architectural standpoint. Legislation to fix legislation.... This whole thing has been one big shell game.
The legislation that requires fixing is the 1986 tax code. 1986. 28 years ago, when Ronald Reagan was president. Not the first and it won't be the last time vintage laws had unintended effects on later laws and were worthy of a quick non-partisan fix.
Should the anomaly have been spotted? Yes. Can it be fixed? Only if Congress co-operates. That's the story imho- self professed center-right think tanks failing to report why this bill won't pass, or even that it exists. Shame, shame.
"... They ne'er cared for us
yet: suffer us to famish, and their store-houses
crammed with grain; make edicts for usury, to
support usurers; repeal daily any wholesome act
established against the rich, and provide more
piercing statutes daily, to chain up and restrain
the poor. If the wars eat us not up, they will; and
there's all the love they bear us."
-- Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Act 1, scene 1