Free Republic

Replace Social Security payroll tax with national sales tax By Laurence J. Kotlikoff Wed, Oct. 20, 2004 With Iraq on the front burner, domestic policy is getting short shrift in the presidential campaign. Two issues – the tax system and Social Security – deserve much more attention. Notwithstanding recent tax cuts, our tax system places a huge burden on middle-class Americans, reducing not just their take-home pay but also their incentives to work and save. And Social Security is a walking time bomb with no obvious means, apart from highly regressive payroll tax hikes, of covering two-fifths of its future benefit commitments....

WASHINGTON – The Democratic Party and 18 senators are objecting to a broadcasting company's plan to air on 62 TV stations a critical documentary about John Kerry's anti-war activities after he returned home from Vietnam three decades ago. Sinclair Broadcast Group has asked its television stations, many of them in competitive states in the presidential election, to pre-empt regular programming to run the documentary as part of an hourlong program two weeks before the Nov. 2 election. Based near Baltimore, the company owns or manages affiliates of major broadcast networks in several states, including Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania. Mark Hyman,...