[LS]

I agree. Elsewhere he has talked about lower rates, though still progressive---but he called for some very low taxes on everyone. I think that is key. Every citizen needs to pay something.

While I'm guessing he supports this, I haven't yet seen him call for reductions in capital gains taxes to reduce the exodus of money offshore.

Moreover we know that he spent time with Steve Forbes and Art Laffer, both flat tax guys. This doesn't reflect that at all.

[nathanbedford]

You are right, thanks for reminding me about his discussions with Forbes and Art Laffer. Since the progressive era the font of much leftist evil can be associated with the never-ending flow of money, real, borrowed, printed or simply created with the stroke of a computer which is enabled by the federal progressive income tax.

The evil is not just in overspending and the creation of crushing debt, the evil is in the choices the spending makes, the cronies it favors in the marketplace, the political interests it subsidizes only to have them come back at us on election day the enemies it seeks to punish, the startups it aborts, the savings it sucks away, the distortions it creates everywhere in the economy.

So when Donald Trump tacitly endorses the manipulation of the system, albeit in the name of fairness but also in service of the punishment of the unworthy, he is ratifying a century-old corrupt practice which is bringing the country down. For people of conservative bent who try to identify a conservative candidate this is terribly important because the power to tax is the power to destroy and the power to subsidize is the power to nurture, combined the power to tax is the power of tyranny. Will Donald Trump simply continue playing the game against enemies that strike his fancy this week, or will he attempt to tear out the corruption at root?

Who will win the battle for Donald Trump's Soul, his ego or our better angels of our conservative nature?