Thursday, June 18, 2015

Rand Paul outlines flat tax proposal

Election 2016: Rand Paul - "Blow up the tax code and start over" - CBS News - Jake Miller:

June 18, 2015 - "Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul unveiled his version of a flat tax on Thursday, proposing to "blow up the tax code and start over "in a Wall Street Journal editorial.

"'The tax code has grown so corrupt, complicated, intrusive and antigrowth that I've concluded the system isn't fixable,' Paul, a freshman senator from Kentucky, wrote.

"In its place, he called for "an over $2 trillion tax cut that would repeal the entire IRS tax code...and replace it with a low, broad-based tax of 14.5 [percent] on individuals and businesses.'

"Under Paul's plan, all forms of income would be taxed at that level, including wages, dividends, capital gains, and interest.... The plan, dubbed 'The Fair and Flat Tax,' would also eliminate nearly every special interest loophole,' Paul explained, along with the payroll tax and federal taxes like the gift tax and the estate tax.

"A flat tax has long enjoyed support among some elements of GOP. Businessman Steve Forbes based his presidential campaigns on the idea in 1996 and 2000, and Republican candidates have periodically resurrected it since then....  In this cycle, several GOP candidates have advanced some form of a flat tax. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, for example, called in March for 'a simple flat tax that lets every American fill out his or her taxes on a postcard.'

"'The flat tax is good policy,' Dan Mitchell, a senior fellow with the conservative CATO Institute, told CBS News in April. 'It would boost U.S. competitiveness, encourage more saving and investment, reduce compliance costs, and collect revenue is a much less destructive fashion.'

"Left-leaning experts, though, say many flat tax proposals would destroy the progressive nature of the current tax code....  'It is a misguided idea because the progressivity in our existing tax code is a critically important component, and it's something we wouldn't want to lose,' Jared Bernstein, a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities and the former chief economist for Vice President Biden, told CBS News in April."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-blow-up-the-tax-code-and-start-over/
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