Slovakia's government introduces flat 19% income and corporate tax

Prague Post ^ | August 28, 2003

[Int]

FLAT TAX • Slovakia's government approved a radical bill to introduce flat 19 percent income and corporate taxes next year as the linchpin of a planned overhaul of the country's complex finance system. The long-awaited bill is the vanguard of an upcoming wave of reforms planned by Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda's rightist government that also includes targeting state spending and vast changes to the country's ailing pension and health systems.

[Int]

Prague Post editorial: "Slovakia is about to enact a 19 percent flat tax for both individuals and corporations. The death tax is being consigned to the graveyard and the tax on dividends will be abolished. The government plans to chip away at the high payroll tax that funds various social programs such as health care. It is also considering ways to fundamentally reform its social security pension system, perhaps privatizing a portion of it..."

[tdadams]

In order of preference I like A) No tax, B) national sales tax, C) flat tax.

Either of these is better than the graduated income tax we have now. There are just too many perverse incentives inherent in an income tax and any of the other options removes the power of legislator to futz around with people, raising taxes on those whose votes they don't need and shoveling tax money toward those who will vote for them.

[ABG(anybody but Gore)]

Amazing that the former Communist bloc has seen the light, while we have idiots like Ted Kennedy, the Clintons, and the entire RAT party who break into hysterics at the mere mention of the idea.

[KarlInOhio]

Amazing that the former Communist bloc has seen the light, while we have idiots like Ted Kennedy, the Clintons, and the entire RAT party who break into hysterics at the mere mention of the idea.

You're comparing former communists with active ones.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

You're comparing former communists with active ones.

Those who know are fleeing Communism while our homegrown crowd is plunging headlong into it. It is simply an avenue to power for them. They care nothing for the victim groups they create to amass votes. I hope, and trust, that the conservative population of the U.S. is large enough to prevent it.

[Willie Green]

In order of preference I like A) No tax, B) national sales tax, C) flat tax.

"A" is not an option since the federal government requires a revenue source to fund it's legitimate functions.

Our Founding Fathers would have found both "B" and "C" as excessively oppressive of our own populace. "B" places all taxation on domestic consumption and "C" places all taxation on domestic production.

Instead, they preferred to levy a revenue tariff on all imported goods. They considered this to be the least oppressive form of taxation. The Government had its revenue source, and Americans were FREE to both produce AND consume the bounty of their own labors and natural resources WITHOUT the burden of domestic taxation.