One of the great danger in politics (and a lot of other things) is falling in love with your own ideas. The latest person to do so in a very public way would seem to be Sen. Bob Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, who resigned today as as co-chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. Seems that the tax reform plan Rucho authored didn’t go over so well with the public, and thus ultimately, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, who introduced his own tax reform plan a few days ago.

In his resignation letter, Rucho said that “It’s a huge disappointment that the Governor and the Speaker of the House did not provide the leadership or have the political backbone to fight the special-interest groups … ”

What Rucho seems to be in denial about are some significant issues with his plan. As JLF head John Hood wrote of Rucho’s proposal, which then was the Senate Republican plan, soon after it was released:

Because the [Rucho] plan seeks to replace income-tax revenue with a broadened sales tax, it picks unnecessary fights with dozens of industry groups who dislike the idea of becoming unpaid tax collectors for government. The plan also increases the state tax burden on households of low to moderate incomes. What makes more sense to me is to retain the income-tax structure, which avoids new regulatory burdens on business, while using generous personal exemptions to ensure that the overall system doesn’t become more regressive.

I understand what [Rucho is] trying to accomplish, but conservatives shouldn’t be in the business of raising taxes on families making $35,000 a year. Instead, they should unite behind a reform package that moves incrementally towards a consumption tax without imperiling their credibility on taxes or their electoral coalition for accomplishing other important conservative goals.