Treasury Secretary Paulson recently gave banks a gift when he unilaterally repealed a tax law that will benefit banks to the tune of nearly $140 Billion in tax savings.  While we were in the midst of the $700 Billion Bailout madness, Paulson changed the interpretation of Internal Revenue Service tax code 382. 

It not only caught tax attorneys by surprise, it caught many member of Congress, our national law making authority, by surprise.  Now the problem is that Congress is afraid to challenge the damage done by Paulson for fear of causing greater anxiety in the economy, and unraveling several bank takeovers which were only done as a result of this law. 

From an article in the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902155.html?wprss=rss_politics/administration

Section 382 of the tax code was created by Congress in 1986 to end what it considered an abuse of the tax system: companies sheltering their profits from taxation by acquiring shell companies whose only real value was the losses on their books. The firms would then use the acquired company's losses to offset their gains and avoid paying taxes.

Is it not bad enough that a particular industry has shown irresponsibility in handling money?  Then is given our money to handle.  Then is given a break in tax law to benefit even more from their irresponsibility?

Will someone please put the breaks on Paulson's continued cronyism without scrutiny? May we please have some common sense back in governmental leadership?