Perry's Flat Tax Foolery

The political graveyard is littered with flat taxers. What better sign of Rick Perry's desperation than his embrace of a tax plan that the public always ends up rejecting once the details come forth.

Clearly a ploy to derail Herman Cain with his own tax cartoon, Perry's flat-tax gambit will likely gain a short-term boost among Republican voters who are so eager for simple ideas. And it's obviously no accident that Steve Forbes, who got nowhere running for president on the flat-tax platform, is advising Perry's fledgling campaign.

As good as it sounds the flat tax slams the poor and the middle class most. Apparently that's a plus in Republican politics, but a losing proposition in the general election. Are homeowners really willing to give up their mortgage deduction on the promise that government will hold down rates? Of course not.

Just because a tax is flat doesn't mean it can't go up. And if Perry's team designs a plan that maintains popular items such as the charitable deduction it's not a flat tax and pretty soon it looks like the same complicated mess we have now.

Now on Craig's blog: Romney's Trip-O-Li

 

 

 

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Comments

[ncal]

05:04 AM on 10/21/2011

Steve Forbes proposed a 1% flat tax on revenues in 1980 to match current federal receivables, 2% to double them. He was talking about taxing all revenues -- corporate and individual. Limiting the corporate revenue taxed to revenue earned in the U.S. would immediately change the U.S. mindset to encompass the global positioning of corporations. A fair flat tax would also set a baseline that would be difficult to alter -- since it applies to all. The savings would be tremendous for all concerned, even corporations, in the long run. Postcard tax returns for all.
I bet Perry's plan won't have as much to offer.

[geoffrobinson]

09:28 PM on 10/20/2011

The flat tax was good enough for God, it should work fine for the federal government.

Just exempt the first $30K and tax everything over that at a flat rate. There, concerns about the poor fixed.

[Guscat]

04:41 AM on 10/21/2011

What does God have to do with the US tax code?

[MinneMike]

07:57 PM on 10/20/2011

Whether you agree with one plan or another, it is important that efforts be made to find a more equitable simpler tax system in this country sans loopholes for the select few.