WSJ: One Simple Rate - A flat tax would uleash a stupendous economic boom, by Steve Forbes

Wall Street Journal ^ | August 15, 2005 | STEVE FORBES

[OESY]

A major domestic battle looms this fall, when tax reform-- a centerpiece of the president's bold domestic agenda-- will finally be on the table. The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform is expected to release its findings by the end of September. After the political shellacking the White House took on Social Security, the administration will be strongly tempted to take a conciliatory path that supports only superficial reforms, essentially preserving the status quo of our hideous income tax code.

Such a course would have perilous consequences, economically and politically. In fact, the administration has an opportunity here to boldly retake the initiative, to recover lost political support and thrust an already decent economy into high gear and, at the same time, make America better able to meet intensifying competition from China, India and others. How? By junking the entire federal income tax code and starting over with a flat tax. A growing number of countries are doing this -- and so should we.

The current system is beyond redemption, a beast whose complexity, confusion and outright unfairness have corrupted our economy and society. Americans waste more than $200 billion and over six billion hours each year filling out tax forms. They engage in all kinds of useless economic activity intended to take advantage of the code's complicated maze of deductions and to reduce taxes -- from deducting donations of old socks to making unwanted investments. The waste of brainpower -- at a time of increasing global competition -- is incalculable.

The code corrupts our system of government by encouraging the crassest political conduct and by creating a massive, intrusive federal bureaucracy. One-sixth of the private-sector employees in Washington are employed by the lobbying industry. One-half of their efforts are directed at wrangling changes in the tax code....

[Always Right]

CPAs will do what cobol programmers did.

My accountant will be just a busy as always, paying my 50 plus bills each week and tracking my business. Maybe a few less forms to file, but still has to report income of our employees to the SS office and still has to file and submit payments (much bigger payments I might add) to the tax collector. I would perfer the much smaller tax payments in exchange for the extra payroll forms.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

And advocates of the "Fair" tax will never tell you that the 16th Amendment will still be in place,

I am a Fair (no need for parentheses)Tax advocate and I will tell you that it is not as important as we think. First, even if the amendment were passed we have to be vigilant that it is not ignored as our present court system ignores the Constitution now. So, if we are going to have to monitor the law ignorers, or Constitution abusers, why not just monitor their adherence to the Fair Tax? You can rest assured the country would be much more alert to such abuse than they have been the creeping and hidden abuse of the past. Even with the Fair Tax there are still a lot of hidden taxes, like on our telephone bills, etc, that must be rooted out and eliminated.

The Fair Tax is no panacea, or fixer of all problems, but it is a damn good start in the right direction.

...and there has to be some type of agency to collect the revenues.

Much of that is already in place in the states. There would have to be additional federal agents to assist but not nearly what we have now in the IRS.

[pigdog]

Reqe that again, D.C.. Subtitle A & B are the income tax provisions and the payroll tax provisions respectively ... and they ARE repealed by the FairTax - just as it says.

The bill also calls for the repeal of the 16th amendment as does this from the FairTax website:

http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/faq-main.html#42

[Little Ray]

Our tax rate IS already "flat." I think we have something like two rates. Its the power Congress wields through the tax code that needs to be destroyed...

[Little Ray]

Then they get to pay their 30% when they bring their new toys into the country.

[rwrcpa1]

Don't worry about us CPA's. We'll be fine.

[rwrcpa1]

You would receive .25% of the tax you collect as a fee under that Fair Tax.

[rwrcpa1]

That can't be. The fair taxers have promised us their bill gets rid of all lobbyists.

We never said that. I'm sure there will be plenty on the spending side.

[postaldave]

"30% sales tax any time we go to the mall"

i don't know were i stand on this issue yet, i kinda like the flat tax too. however stupid statements like that are not helping any. the fact you come up with 30% shows you know better.

grow up.

[rwrcpa1]

In either case I hope that businesses still would get tax write offs for expenses. If they do not, we will be hosed.You do. Every bit of your expenses are deductible. And every bit of your revenue is not taxed. Businesses don't pay the Fair Tax! Didn't you know that?

[rwrcpa1]

Even if you can't lower your prices, your clients will not have to pay with after tax dollars, so they can afford your services. I don't know what kind of business you are in, but if you are selling services to businesses they won't pay the Fair Tax.

[Dead Corpse]

Check the language of the Bill. It ain't in there. Repeals the Code, but not the Amendment. A different piece of legislation is being called on to do that, the HJ Res 61 I mentioned. Absent that, the LAW might be gone, but the power would remain. Replacing the law would be easy.

The Bill could "call" for the repeal of almost anything. They've had bills with numberous findings of facts that the Second Amendment is an "individual Right" and that is can't be "infringed". But I noticed that the BATFE is still in existance...

Unless it is part of the text of the Bill that contains the actual legal context, it ain't squat.

[Uncle Fud]

The only weakness of the Fair Tax is it is still vulnerable to crooked and greedy politicians. If we get rid of those we could eliminate many, many problems.

Unfortunately I can think of no way to accomplish this that won't have the Secret Service/FBI knocking at JimRob's, and my, doors.

[rwrcpa1]

And advocates of the "Fair" tax will never tell you that the 16th Amendment will still be in place,...

We'll now you're just being dishonest. Here, I'll say it. "H.R. 25, the Fair Tax Act of 2005, does not repeal the 16th amendment. You can't repeal a constitutional amendment in a tax bill. You have to pass a constitutional amendment on its own, then have it ratified by the states. You can't do that in a tax bill. Also, you have to have something to replace the income tax with before you can repeal the amendment. However, the Fair Tax bill does completely repeal all sections of the tax code dealing with personal and corporate income taxes, estate taxes and payroll taxes. It also totally eliminates the Internal Revenue Service. It also calls for the destruction of all income tax returns filed previously." There ya go.

and there has to be some type of agency to collect the revenues.

The states will collect and enforce the tax revenues from the retailers. A much smaller agency than the IRS within Treasury will collect the taxes from the states. Individuals will most likely never deal with this agency. Individuals will never file a federal income tax return again.

[rwrcpa1]

Don't be "spooked". Get educated. www.fairtax.org

[rwrcpa1]

You know, the Unabomber used less words than you do.

[rwrcpa1]

If you can get the amendment AND the Fair Tax passed in the next year I'm all for it.

[P8riot]

They ought to eliminate paper money over $1. Just imagine, bank robbers trying tp haul out $30,000 in ones. It would also have the side benefit of making the "would you like fries with that" crowd learn how to count out change.

[rwrcpa1]

I think we can all agree we want the 16th amendment repealed. We should demand that on Tuesday the Fair Tax is passed and on Wednesday the 16th amendment repeal is passed.

[clee1]

Thanks, FRiend.

I have to admit that I really don't understand the knee-jerk opposition to the Fair Tax. It seems to me to be a win-win for everyone; except for the mega rich, and they hate ANY taxation on principle (why should MY tax dollars support the schools/roads/services for the great unwashed?)

I KNOW why the professional political class doesn't like it: it would take away their power to buy votes and set one class against another at election time.