From the article: “In its purest form, a ‘flat tax’ treats all taxpayers equally. Income is taxed at the same rate regardless of earnings or wealth, while allowing for no tax deductions or exemptions. But Cruz said his flat tax proposal might allow some deductions, possibly for popular write-offs like for charitable donations and mortgage interest charged on a primary residence, paid annually by homeowners.
“We will roll it out with precise details in the coming weeks or months,” he said. “There are trade-offs to be had and we’re right now internally having those debates, in terms of whether you have a couple of deductions or exemptions or not, at what rate the flat rate is set, what level of standard deductions and so those trade-offs we’re currently debating.”
And, therein lies the fundamental flaw with an income tax...the leviathan cannot avoid the urge to ‘tweak’ it, to address ‘inequities based on perception’, to make some folks more equal than others.
Rather we should be looking into consumption based taxation, ala the Fair Tax (without that silly ‘prebate’ notion, IMO). Couple that with a requirement for 75% approval in the Senate and House before changes can be made.
A great many folks decry the ‘double taxation’ associated to spending accrued retirement savings in this model. That can be addressed in a couple of different ways, IMO, and would be sunsetted at a date certain in the future.
Time to put the entire IRS out to pasture...
Speaking only for myself, I’d be willing to suffer the ‘double taxation’ if it meant we were truly getting rid of the income tax once and for all. It’s a debt I’d pay in order to free future generations from the tyranny of the IRS and the convoluted tax code which is currently used to prod and to punish and to “redistribute” wealth.
(p.s. You cannot redistribute wealth. You can only redistribute poverty.)