Canadian parties promise to cut income tax

With a federal general election called on Sunday for April 28, both Liberal and Conservative parties launched their campaigns with a promise to cut the federal income tax. 

Carney calls snap election for April 28 | CBC News:

March 23, 2025 - "Liberal Leader Mark Carney has triggered an early election with a short 36-day campaign that’s expected to revolve around the economy and threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. Canadians go to the polls April 28."
https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/9.6695655

Liberals launch 2025 campaign with middle-class tax cut | Liberal Party of Canada (news release):

March 23, 2025 - "Today, Mark Carney launched the 2025 Liberal campaign by announcing a middle-class tax cut that will help Canadians keep more of what they earn and build a stronger Canada in the face of President Trump’s tariffs.... This middle-class tax cut will save two-income families up to $825 a year, by reducing the marginal tax rate on the lowest tax bracket by 1 percentage point. More than 22 million Canadians will benefit directly from this tax cut, and middle- and low-income Canadians will benefit the most....

“'So many Canadians are doing everything right. They’ve worked hard, secured a good job, and saved for the future. But often, it’s not enough,' added Mr. Carney. 'My new government will focus on helping hard-working Canadians keep more of their paychecks to spend where it matters most: on homes, groceries, and their families. Every Canadian should be able to afford necessities, feel secure, and get ahead financially – and this tax cut will help them do that.'”
Read more: https://liberal.ca/liberals-launch-2025-campaign-with-middle-class-tax-cut/

Poilievre To Cut Income Tax By 15% For The Average Canadian | Conservative Party of Canada (news release):

March 24, 2025 - "Today, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre launched his campaign to put Canada First and make life more affordable for Canadians. Poilievre announced he will cut income tax by 15%, dropping the tax rate on the lowest income tax bracket from 15% to 12.75%, meaning the average Canadian worker earning $57,000 will save $900, with two income families saving $1,800 a year. It’s time to let Canadians keep more of what they earn....

"Poilievre’s income tax cut is part of the broader Conservative Bring It Home Tax Cut on work, investment, energy and homebuilding. Conservative tax cuts will create jobs for Canadians and help build Canada’s economic fortress against American threats. It will allow consumers to spend more money supporting local businesses while rewarding hard work that makes everyone better off.... Let’s bring it home and put Canada first – for a change!"
Read more: https://www.conservative.ca/poilievre-to-cut-income-tax-by-15-for-the-average-canadian/

Poilievre's tax plan helps millionaires the most - just like Carney's | New Democratic Party of Canada (news release): 

March 24, 2025 - "This morning, Pierre Poilievre announced a tax plan that he says is about 'average Canadians.' What he doesn’t say is that the richest people benefit the most. Just like Carney’s proposal, the income tax cut is so broad that it helps millionaires and billionaires....

"Why is Poilievre cutting taxes for billionaires when working Canadians are struggling with the cost of living, housing, and healthcare?"
Read more: https://www.ndp.ca/news/poilievres-tax-plan-helps-millionaires-most-just-carneys

Fair Taxation: Making Our Tax System Work for Everyone | Green Party of Canada | website (accessed March 25, 2025):

"We have a simple goal: taxes that work for people, not profiteers. In the coming weeks, we’ll announce our new tax plan. It will put thousands of dollars back into working people’s pockets. This will be the biggest change to income tax in generations."
Read more: https://www.greenparty.ca/en/our-plans/fair-taxation

Libertarian ideas get co-opted, and that's good

Forum: The Libertarian Party: Bringing good ideas to America since 1971 - New Haven Register - Thomas L. Knapp:

June 25, 2018 - "‘"Abolish ICE!" [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] is the new rallying cry for progressive Democrats,' reports NBC News’s Alex Seitz-Wald. It’s 'a radical idea and one that was confined to the fringes just months ago,' but one that 'left-wing insurgents can use to differentiate themselves from more established rivals in Democratic primaries.”

"Good idea. So good, in fact, that I wrote a column advocating exactly that three months ago. Welcome to the right side, Democrats.

"Like most Libertarians, I’m amused when our ideological opponents see a parade forming around one of our ideas and try to hustle their way to the front to 'lead' it. Unlike some Libertarians, I don’t follow up amusement with getting down in the mouth about being 'co-opted.' I’m just happy to see good ideas gain steam from any source.

"The Libertarian Party has supported same-sex marriage rights since its founding in 1971. Hillary Clinton finally joined us on that one in 2013.....

"We began calling for elimination of the federal income tax decades before the (even worse) 'Fair Tax' idea embedded itself in the Republican Party....

"Marijuana legalization? That was us too, fighting both old party establishments to get medical, then recreational, cannabis off the list of victimless 'crimes' from the early 1970s on....

"We beat the Democrats to putting abolition of the death penalty in our platform by mere weeks in 2016. It should have been there since 1971.

"The perceived gold standard for a political party’s success is winning elections, and I wish Libertarians won more of them. But a better standard is successfully pushing our values, ideas, and proposals into the public conversation and seeing them adopted. I’d like to see that happen more often as well, but I’m glad when it happens at least occasionally."

Read more: https://www.nhregister.com/opinion/article/Forum-The-Libertarian-Party-Bringing-good-ideas-13024456.php
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Eagles win Super Bowl, lose to taxman

The Philadelphia Eagles Won the Super Bowl, but They'll Lose on Tax Day - Hit & Run : Reason.com - Eric Boehm:

February 5, 2018 - "The Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl when they defeated the New England Patriots.... But it's the tax man who really always wins.

"Because the game was played in Minneapolis, the $112,000 bonuses paid to each player on the winning team (and the $56,000 bonuses paid to the losers), will be taxable in Minnesota, which has some of the highest personal income tax rates in the country. Each member of the Eagles will end up paying about $7,200 of their Super Bowl bonus to the state of Minnesota. That comes on top of an estimated $23,500 federal tax hit for each of the winning player's shares....

"Minnesota also imposes a so-called 'jock tax' on athletes that visit the state for practices and games. Income earned during the days leading up to Sunday's big game will be taxed at the state's top marginal rate of 9.85 percent. Only California has a higher jock tax, and even states with no personal income taxes — like Texas and Florida, both frequent Super Bowl hosts — still hit up professional athletes, coaches, and team staff with special taxes.

"Robert Raiola, chief of the sports and entertainment group at PKF O'Connor Davies, a New York–based accounting firm that specializes in working with athletes, tells Philly.com that most players on the two teams would have spent about a week in Minnesota during the lead-up to the Super Bowl. That works out to about 3 percent of their total working time for the year, and their tax bills will vary... Tom Brady, who earned about $15 million in salary this year, could end up owing Minnesota roughly $43,000.

"[T]he average NFL player makes $1.9 million — considerably less than the average in America's other major sports. Still, that works out to more than $3,300 in state taxes owed simply for spending a week in Minnesota. And of course those players still owe taxes in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, along with every other state where they played a road game during the season. Tennessee is the only state without a jock tax."

Read more: https://reason.com/blog/2018/02/05/winning-the-super-bowl-in-minnesota-mean
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Koch machine budgets $400M for midterms

Tax Cuts Help Trump Win Fans at Conservative Koch Donor Network - Bloomberg - John McCormick, Politics:

January 29, 2018 - "At this weekend’s gathering of Koch donors at a desert resort in southern California, Trump’s stock, like the U.S. market, was up, even if members of the libertarian-leaning group remain nervous about his restrictive views on trade and immigration.

"The network founded by billionaires Charles and David Koch didn’t support Trump’s insurgent 2016 campaign....  Before the election, Charles Koch compared a contest between Trump and Clinton to a choice between 'cancer or a heart attack.'

"Even as some donors and Koch officials praised Trump for passage of the tax bill, Charles Koch, 82, made no mention of him when he welcomed donors Saturday evening or when he appeared on a panel discussion that reporters were allowed to monitor on Sunday.

"With more than 700 donors who give a minimum of $100,000 per year and more than 100,000 donors overall, the network has convened similar gatherings twice annually since 2003. Throughout the weekend, reporters were prohibited from approaching donors, except during a hour-long window Sunday evening when a small group agreed to interviews.

"The network used the weekend to reinforce its commitment to help Republicans keep control of Congress and statehouses nationwide. Leaders said plans call for spending close to $400 million on policy and politics during the two-year election cycle that culminates with November’s midterm elections, a roughly 60 percent increase over 2015-16.... The spending will include about $20 million in 2018 to sell voters on the merits of the new tax law, about the same amount Koch-affiliated groups spent in 2017 promoting the legislation....

"Americans for Tax Fairness, a left-leaning advocacy group, released a rough estimate last week that said the changes could be worth $1 billion or more a year in reduced taxes for the conglomerate.

"Koch officials pushed back against the study. 'The report should be met with skepticism,' said David Dziok, a Koch corporate spokesman. 'Its methodology is questionable, and the group responsible for it makes no secret of its political leanings. Koch is a strong proponent of comprehensive tax reform because we’re confident that it’ll lead to stronger economic growth, more jobs, and more money in the pockets of American families.'"

Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-29/tax-cuts-help-trump-win-fans-at-conservative-koch-donor-network
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Tax call centers block, misinform Canadians

CRA call centre staff blocking calls, giving taxpayers incorrect information: AG | CTV News - Rachel Aiello:

"November 24, 2017 -  Canada's tax collectors often aren’t picking up the phone, and when they do, Canadians are being given incorrect information, a new federal audit reveals.

"The examination by Canada's Auditor General Michael Ferguson into whether the Canada Revenue Agency’s nine call centres were providing Canadian taxpayers with timely access to accurate information, found that call centre agents only answered the phone about one-third of the time.

"When the callers do get through to the call centre, the audit found that agents are giving Canadians incorrect information nearly 30 per cent of the time....

'"If people aren’t told the right date for when interest will be charged on what they owe, they may make a payment later than they should, and they may get charged interest that they weren’t expecting to get charged,' said Ferguson, giving an example of the impact of the CRA staff’s erroneous information. 'Every time the answer that they get from the call centre isn’t a right answer, there’s always the potential that that is going to impact individuals'....

"The auditor general found that ... the CRA blocked about 29 million calls, more than half of its 53.5 million total call volume.... The CRA reported that about 90 per cent of callers are able to be connected.... However when the blocked calls are factored in, the Agency’s overall success rate dropped to 36 per cent....

"Ferguson said ... calling in for help is the main way for Canadians to get help with specific questions, or is the only way for those without internet access or who are not comfortable or able to use a computer. 'If taxpayers cannot get timely access to accurate information, they may file incorrect returns, miss filing deadlines, pay too little or too much tax (and later be subject to reassessment), or miss out on benefits they are eligible to receive.'"

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/cra-call-centre-staff-blocking-calls-giving-taxpayers-incorrect-information-ag-1.3687250
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The Economist: Atlas is about to shrug in Britain

In Britain, Atlas is about to shrug - Bagehot - Adrian Woolridge, The Economist:

August 24, 2017 - "In Atlas Shrugged, published 60 years ago this October, Ayn Rand asked what would happen if society’s most talented businesspeople got so fed up with being taxed, regulated and otherwise messed about by government that they went on strike. Innovation would cease. The economy would stagnate. And government, starved of easy pickings, would become more bullying.

"The world’s fifth-largest economy is in the early stages of its own experiment with driving Atlas crazy. Since the Thatcher revolution of the 1980's Britain has been one of the most open and business-friendly large economies.... But the settlement is under assault from two directions. The Conservative Party is negotiating Britain’s departure from the European Union, disrupting long-established flows of trade, talent and capital. Meanwhile, the main opposition party is led by a hard-leftist who wants to consign Thatcherism to the dustbin of history.

"Brexit is already beginning to damage Britain’s most globalised industry, finance. Most big investment banks have shifted some people and operations to the continent as a hedge.... Oliver Wyman, a consultancy, predicts that up to 75,000 finance jobs, or 7% of the total, will leave if Britain loses easy access to the single market. EY, another consultancy, puts the figure at 83,000....

"Jeremy Bernard Corbyn ... stands on the verge of power.... There is little chance that Mr Corbyn would moderate his hard-leftism in government. He has been banging the same drums for 30 years, and is surrounded by fellow-travellers such as John McDonnell, his shadow chancellor, and Seumas Milne, his chief strategist, whose biggest disagreement is over whether Stalin or Trotsky is the greater inspiration. He is supported by snarling activists in the Momentum campaigning group and the Unite trade union.... He believes that change comes through conflict rather than consensus, so will expect the markets and media to tell him he is ruining the country: that’s what the reactionary establishment does.

"The combined result of Brexit and Corbyn could be the dystopia that Rand warned about: a stagnant society driven by resentment of the successful. The flight of talent will not only have a knock-on effect on the wider economy.... It will also reduce the state’s revenues, since the top 1% of earners pay almost 30% of income tax and the top 10% pay nearly 60%. Mr Corbyn seems to think that all he need do is to ask 'the rich' to pay 'a little bit more' and everything will be fine. But why would successful people put up with higher taxes, particularly if they follow on the heels of Brexit-related uncertainty and disruption? As Luke Johnson, a serial entrepreneur, points out, the world is full of places where Britain’s Atlases would be welcome, from neighbouring countries like France, which is courting London’s bankers and tech workers, to emerging markets such as Dubai and Singapore. When Atlas shrugs, the whole of Albion suffers."

Read more: https://www.economist.com/news/britain/21727080-combination-brexit-and-jeremy-corbyn-could-lead-dystopia-ayn-rand-predicted
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Income tax, rent, and coercion

by George J. Dance:

May 30, 2017 - Recently I have been reading the online works of progressive Matt Bruenig, a Washington, D.C., lawyer and sometime internet troll, who has written a great deal about libertarians. Last week I wrote on his "Grab World" scenario, but that leaves many of his articles to be looked at. Today's installment deals with a 2013 article, "Libertarians are Huge Fans of Economic Coercion."

Bruenig's article defines "coercion" by quoting economist and lawyer Robert Lee Hale: "coercion occurs when there are 'background constraints on the universe of socially available choices from which an individual might "freely" choose.'"

Based on that definition, Bruenig argues that income taxes are coercive: "Imagine I am thinking of getting a job. I have the following options in the status quo: 1. Get a job and pay income taxes on the income from that job. 2. Do not get a job." Theoretically people have a third option – get a job and do not pay income taxes – but "the state – through violent, physical coercion – has prevented them from having this option." As Bruenig points out, Libertarians would agree with him on this.

However, Bruenig also argues that rent is equally coercive: "Imagine I am looking to find housing to live in. I am presented, in the status quo, with the following choices: 1. Pay a landlord rent to live in some building; 2. Be homeless." Once again, there is a theoretical option 3 – "to move into a building and sleep in it without paying anyone anything" – however, "landlords may call [the state] on the phone and have it violently remove me from the building if I chose option three. That is, the state has – through violent, physical coercion – restricted the options that are available to me."

Since libertarians do not oppose the collection of rent, Bruenig concludes, they do not oppose, but support, "economic coercion." QED

However, in the rent example, option 3 actually consists of two different options: 3a) move into a building, and unilaterally decide to not pay rent; and 3b) move into a building, and do not pay rent, with the owner's agreement. Bruenig shows that the state forecloses option 3a; but he does not show that it has foreclosed option 3b.

In fact, the state has not foreclosed 3b. Many people live in other people's homes and pay nothing, with the owner's agreement. Some live in their parents', children's, other family members', or friends' homes. Others live in Salvation Army or other hostels. Landlords let their superintendents live rent-free. I have even heard of superintendents allowing the homeless to sleep for free in apartment boiler rooms. In all these cases, the state does not intervene at all, much less "violently" – it intervenes only in the case of 3a, when one of the parties affected does not agree, and complains to it. Which is why libertarians would "describe my choice to pay rent as non-coerced and voluntary": whether or not rent must be paid for accommodation depends solely on the voluntary agreement of the parties involved.

In Bruenig's first example, the state also forecloses option 3a. If I unilaterally decide my employer cannot deduct income tax from my paycheque, and try to take the money he deducted from the till, he could fire me, and call "the state" to remove me if I then refuse to leave. But what about option 3b, where both I and my employer agree that I can work and not pay income tax?

Employers and employees choose 3b every day. Many people work 'under the table', with their employers' agreement, and never even report that income to the state, much less pay income tax on it. In this case, though, the state does not simply let those voluntary arrangements happen; on the contrary, if its agents discovered such an arrangement, it would declare both the employee and employer to be criminals, and use "violent, physical coercion" on both of them.

Which is why libertarians would call taxes coercive, and rents non-coercive. In both cases, I have three options: 1. pay rent or taxes; 2. go without a job or a home; and 3. get a job or a home, and pay no rent or taxes, by voluntary agreement of everyone affected. In the case of rent, the state does not interfere with my choosing that third option. However, in the case of taxes, it would interfere with "violent, physical coercion" if I chose the third option. Both I and my employer are threatened with coercion if we agree to choose it.

Bruenig deals with that difference solely by ignoring it. But his ignoring it does not make it disappear. The choice to pay rent is voluntary in a way that the choice to pay taxes is not; and the choice to pay taxes is coerced in a way that the choice to pay rent is not. Therefore his argument by analogy fails.

New Manitoba Party calling for big tax cuts

Taz Stuart named interim leader of new Manitoba Party - Manitoba - CBC News - Steve Lambert, Canadian Press:

January 21, 2016 - "A new political party focusing on extensive tax cuts is aiming to be in place for the April 19 Manitoba election.

"The Manitoba Party's platform includes a promise to cut the provincial sales tax to five per cent from eight. The party also says it would institute a flat income tax of 10 per cent to replace current progressive tax brackets that top out at 17.4 per cent.

"The party also says it would scrap the province's business payroll tax, which brings in hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

"The aim, the party's president says, would be to leave taxpayers and businesses with more money to boost the economy and create jobs. 'I think everybody knows that taxation is a fine, a penalty, a deterrent," Gary Marshall said Thursday. 'If you alleviate that punishment ... people will be far more inclined to produce, to be productive, to work harder.'

"Marshall said just look west for proof of that.  'This is copying Saskatchewan. The NDP in 2006 instituted very big tax cuts which shocked everybody and that place has been booming ever since. Yes, they had some help with the oil revenues. But it's their tax policies that have kept that province head and shoulders above everybody else."

"Marshall, a dialysis technologist with an interest in government economics, believes his group offers voters a right-leaning alternative to the province's three main parties. It has started filing paperwork with Elections Manitoba, including the 2,500 signatures required to form an official party.

"Marshall said he's not worried about splitting the vote on the right.

"'They failed on that four times now. Sixteen years they haven't adopted any conservative policies. So if they're chasing NDP policies that's fine. We'll open it up and we'll offer tax cuts,' he said.  'We don't think the people of this province are being served very well. In the last election in this province 42 per cent of people did not vote. … So we think the current three parties, that they're all kind of congregated on the left side of the spectrum, all trying to outdo the NDP, are missing out on a large market here in Manitoba.'

"The party is lining up candidates and has an interim leader in Taz Stuart, who used to head the City of Winnipeg's mosquito-fighting program. Stuart finished second in a run for a seat on city council in 2014....

"The Manitoba Party is hoping to gain official status with Elections Manitoba by the end of the month and field candidates in at least half of the province's 57 constituencies."

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-party-taz-stuart-1.3414019
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Paul and Cruz have best tax plans, says Laffer

The Paul And Cruz Flat Tax Plans Are Best Tax Proposals - Investors.com - Arthur B. Laffer & Stephen Moore:

November 20, 2015 - "The good news on the presidential campaign trail is that almost all Republicans are now for serious pro-growth tax reform and simplification. Every candidate wants lower rates (some a one-rate flat tax), fewer loopholes and carve-outs, and a reduced role for an abusive IRS....

"All the GOP tax plans look good to us — though some are admittedly better than others. The danger now is that too many conservatives have formed a circular firing squad and are shooting down nearly all proposals on purity grounds or attacking trivial differences.

"This is the surest way to derail tax reform altogether....

"Which brings us to Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.... Paul's rates are 14.5% on business net sales and wages and salaries. Cruz has a 16% business net sales tax and a 10% wage and salary tax. These would be the lowest tax rates since the income tax was devised 100 years ago. Both are estimated by the Tax Foundation to grow the economy by a gigantic $2 trillion in extra GDP per year after 10 years.

"Both eliminate almost all deductions and special-interest carve-outs.... They completely kill the corporate tax, the estate tax and the FICA payroll tax.

"Yet conservatives are strangely griping. Economists at the Cato Institute have joined with Larry Kudlow to complain that the business tax is a value-added tax (VAT). Such a dreaded tax, they fear, would be a giant new source of revenue and lead to government gone wild, as has happened in Europe....

"But nearly all leading flat-tax plans have some form of VAT to replace the god-awful corporate income tax.... When we designed our Complete Flat Tax in our book Return to Prosperity, we came up with this business tax system with no deductions, simple as can be, and the lowest rate just about anywhere in the world....

"Almost every economist will agree that the right way to tax businesses is on their income minus their allowable expenses.

"The crux of the complaint here is that the Paul and Cruz tax plans are too efficient and too pro-growth and thus raise too much revenue.....

"The sole reason we need taxes is to raise the requisite revenues to fund government.... Criticizing the Cruz and Paul VATs based on worries about providing too much revenue to government is like arguing against cutting the capital gains tax rate — because every time we cut that rate, the feds get more revenue."

Read more: http://news.investors.com/ibd-editorials-brain-trust/112015-781892-paul-and-cruz-flat-tax-proposals-best-candidate-tax-plans.htm
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IRS spends $140M so far upgrading to Windows 7

Government watchdog blasts IRS for mismanaged migrations from Windows XP, Server 2003 | Computerworld - Gregg Keizer:

October 15, 2015 - "Government auditors have blasted the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for missing deadlines to upgrade Windows XP PCs and data center servers running Windows Server 2003, both of which have been retired by Microsoft.

"In a recently released report, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) criticized the IRS for spending nearly $140 million on upgrading Windows XP to Windows 7 even as it failed to meet the support cut-off of April 2014. At the deadline, over half of the IRS's PCs were still running XP.

"Nine months after Windows XP fell off Microsoft's support list, the agency still could not account for 1,300 PCs – about 1% of its total – and so couldn't say whether they had been purged of the ancient OS.

"On the server front, half of the IRS's Windows-powered servers were still running Windows Server 2003 in May, even though Microsoft would pull the support plug on that software two months later. At that time, the IRS still had not installed Windows Server 2012, the latest version, on any of its systems.

"The failure to upgrade its infrastructure to supported versions of Windows, said TIGTA, threatened taxpayers and tax collection. 'We believe that running workstations with outdated operating systems pose significant security risks to the IRS network and data, particularly in the environment where a chain is only as strong as its weakest link,' the TIGTA's report stated. 'External hackers or malicious insiders need to locate only the one computer with security weaknesses, such as one with an outdated operating system, to exploit in order to steal data or further compromise other computers.'

"That's not just theory. Earlier this year, the IRS admitted that hackers infiltrated its network and made off with personal information on more than 300,000 taxpayers."

Read more: http://www.computerworld.com/article/2993380/operating-systems/government-watchdog-blasts-irs-for-mismanaged-migrations-from-windows-xp-server-2003.html
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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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Gary Johnson calls for eliminating IRS

Libertarian Gary Johnson calls for eliminating IRS | The Daily News Journal | dnj.com - Scott Broden:

March 15, 2014 - "The country should eliminate all income, corporate and payroll taxes and replace them with a consumption tax, Libertarian Party 2012 presidential nominee Gary Johnson told an audience today.

"'I believe that our lives would be changed for the better,' Johnson, a former Republican governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003, said during his keynote address before the Libertarian Party of Tennessee State Convention....

"When it comes to the consumption tax, Johnson said he’d like to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and told the audience that he agrees with the current proposed Fair Tax as a way to get started. The process would include getting rid of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution that allows income taxes and replacing them with a Fair Tax that would act like a 28 percent tax on all sales.

"The idea is revenue neutral, so there would still be a need to cut spending, said Johnson, noting that 165 members of Congress support the Fair Tax.

"The country should balance its budgets as a top priority and reform Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, Johnson said."

Read more: http://www.dnj.com/article/20140315/NEWS05/303150019/Libertarian-Gary-Johnson-calls-eliminating-IRS?nclick_check=1

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Tea Party promotes a New Fair Deal

To reinvigorate Republican Party, tea party takes page from Occupy - CSMonitor.com - David Grant, Christian Science Monitor:

April 15, 2013 - "If Republicans are going to bounce back in 2014, the tea party thinks it has the answer: the New Fair Deal.

"A dozen House lawmakers and Sen. Mike Lee (R) of Utah – backed by swarms of activists affiliated with the group FreedomWorks – are offering up a package of about a dozen proposals on Monday that are the tea party’s contribution to how the party should go forward.

"The thing that’s been missing is a reform agenda that excites people and gets them in the streets, that they believe can happen,' says Dean Clancy, vice president for public policy at FreedomWorks and a chief organizer of the New Fair Deal package. 'What can we do to help the guys that we helped get elected in 2010 actually restore credibility for this movement'....

"The New Fair Deal consists of 10 bills, which will include:
           * Cuts to a wide array of subsidies, with alternative energy companies, sugar growers, and high-speed rail all to get the ax.
           * A conservative alternative to Obamacare.
           * A 'flat tax' system.
           * A private savings option for Social Security.
           * Tax reform to broaden the tax base."

Read more: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2013/0415/To-reinvigorate-Republican-Party-tea-party-takes-page-from-Occupy
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