Sure, genuine tax reform is politically difficult. Sure, there is no budget surplus to ease the political pain. Yes, John Howard almost lost power by taking a whole new tax, the goods and services tax, to the 1998 election. All of any increased GST money goes to the states, providing little political upside for the federal government, including on the eve of an important byelection. Sure, the Senate is even madder than back then. And, yes, Labor has dug itself even further into the anti-growth and anti-policy reform ditch, where it festers in its own governance muck.