As for taxes, perhaps a glint of sanity on the horizon

Baucus Says Tax Overhaul That Raises Revenues Is Moving Forward 

By JONATHAN WEISMAN, NYT

Senator Max Baucus of Montana, the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said on Monday that an overhaul of the tax code was moving forward, but that any plan must raise more revenue, help reduce the deficit and address the nation’s growing disparity between rich and poor.

“Everyone needs to contribute,” Mr. Baucus said during a speech at the Bipartisan Policy Center, a centrist research organization in Washington.

Mr. Baucus has been publicly quiet as less senior senators have jostled for the spotlight over efforts to address the nation’s fiscal problems. But he said he had been moving forward on a tax code overhaul that would be a pivotal part of any long-term deficit reduction deal.

Mr. Baucus participated on Wednesday in a secret dinner on the end-of-year “fiscal cliff” that included Democratic Senate leaders like Charles E. Schumer of New York and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois. He has called a private, members-only meeting of the Senate Finance Committee for later this week.

(More here.)