Who would have thought: Bush's tax-reform panel actually recommended something that would hurt the upper class.

After his re-election, President Bush set two top domestic priorities: privatization of Social Security, and “reform” of the tax system. Privatization ran into a wall of opposition once the public grasped that the price would be a big cut in guaranteed retirement checks.

On Tuesday, Bush's blue-ribbon commission on tax reform issued its recommendations, and they are hitting with a similar, resounding thud. The right wanted a flat tax, a consumption tax, or a national sales or value-added tax in place of the progressive income tax. Not only did the commission fail to support any of these, but it took on at least one sacred cow -- capping the mortgage interest deduction -- that would raise taxes on the upper middle class.