The U.S. tax code is a nightmare. Fixing it requires going back to ask the fundamental question, "What are taxes for?" In an excellent column, Dan Henninger asks and answers it.

A compelling, even frightening article in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal about a tax system that is a morass of extenders, extrusions, loopholes, credits and bubble-gum fixes ended with the story of a grievously ill cancer patient balancing the benefits of taking an experimental drug against the estate-tax benefits to his family of an early death.

Whether the tax rates in place for most of the past 10 years are extended for two more years this week or next month is politically interesting but doesn't get to the more important question we should be asking Govs. Palin, Romney, Pawlenty and the rest: What exactly do you think taxes are for?

Read it all.