“I have read it it is unwieldy and will never be enacted. Period. It makes more sense to put your efforts into a plan that will actually get considered.”
If the flat tax is more politically viable than the FairTax, can you explain why every poll on tax reform that comes out now shows the FairTax preferred by margins of better than 5 to 1 over the flat tax? Also, why does the FairTax have more than 50 co-sponsors (more than 70 in the last session of congress) while you don’t see any flat tax bills with more than a half dozen or so? The flat taxers can’t even agree on a single bill that they support; if you ask 3 flat taxers to describe their version, you will more than likely get 3 different answers. Given those facts, do you want to revise which one you are calling unwieldy and unable to get implemented?
Last but certainly not least, this country is facing a number of adverse economic trends which are exacerbated by the current tax system, including:
1. the enormous trade deficit and the resulting loss of our manufacturing sector,
2. the federal budget deficit,
3. the chronically low personal savings rate,
4. the twin crises of SS & Medicare,
5. the ongoing spiral of increased complexity and higher compliance costs,
6. the AMT
In addition to having the current tax system as a major contributor, all of these trends have one other thing in common: they are all unsustainable. In each case, the FairTax addresses these trends more effectively than the FairTax does.
“The fight for tax reform is such a difficult battle politically that it doesn’t make sense to expend all the energy to prevail and come up with the wrong answer.”
Dick Armey
Mr. Armey is quite correct in that statement. What he doesn’t understand is that “the flat tax” is, indeed, “the wrong answer”.
I think it probably should be done, It should certainly be looked at and discussed. However, I still stand by the statement that it will never be implemented. Too many of the powerful would never let it get done. Certainly the entire Democrat caucus will reject it out of hand more than half the Republican caucus will do the same. Where will the 2/3 majority come from for the necessary Constitutional Amendment. Nowhere. IT AIN”T GUNNA HAPPEN!