I will probably be lambasted for saying this, but here goes...
I am not interested in a tax system that is ‘fair’. Fairness is too often judged in ‘the eye of the beholder’. I do not believe that our country can at this juncture come to an agreement on what is ‘fair’. So I discount fairness as a plank from which a solution can be built.
I am interested in a revenue system that supports economic growth while providing that revenue which is necessary to support the core responsibilities of our government.
Our revenue system has for too long been used as a social equaliser, and not as a necessary evil.
I do not begrudge some paying little or no taxes if we don’t need that revenue, or if that revenue will in the end detract from the economy as a system.
The biggest advantages I see from the Trump proposal are two-fold: simplicity for the common citizen, and corporate rates which make America an attractive place to do business.
Some will say it doesn’t go far enough, and some will say it goes too far. Many have already weighed in thusly.
I say it is a far sight better than that which we have now and if nothing else leads to the conclusion that Mr Trump is in fact serious about his candidacy as he continues to lay out policy positions that are thoughtful, clearly stated, and which have specific goals in mind.
People are welcome to disagree with his or any other candidate’s positions. That is the process. But to date he has offered as many or more large scale positions as any other top tier candidate, and he continues to drive the agenda. If this process, this discussion, leads to serious, thoughtful discourse on the topic of the current tax structure and its crippling impact on our economy - he will have accomplished a laudable achievement. If through this discussion we loosen the chains holding back the American economy he will have achieved that which many of the political pragmatist class considered impossible.
Absolutely agree on “fairness.” As a professional historian, I emphasize to students that the current system was sold to the public largely via fraud, although not on the basis of “fairness” but really on notions that almost no one would pay and that it would be easy to file. The “fairness” came during FDR.