Flat Is the New Fair

September 30, 2011 06:19


Is President Obama paving the way for GOP tax reform?

By Stephen Moore at The Wall Street Journal


EXCERPTS:

‘Suddenly, liberal Democrats are making the same argument about the tax code that I’ve been making for 20 years,” laughs former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey. “Welcome to the party.” Mr. Armey, who along with Steve Forbes has been the torch bearer for the flat tax since the early 1990s, believes that the latest applause line from President Obama that “billionaires should pay the same tax rate as janitors” may be the political gateway to sweeping tax reform.

Mr. Forbes sees an opening here too and says: “The flat tax is the perfect issue for these times. It fixes the economy and doesn’t cost a dime.” He’s right. It’s the teed-up GOP response to a jobless recovery and the near-universal sentiment among voters that the tax code is corrupt beyond repair.

That’s why the flat tax is the fairest tax of all. The combination of a single tax rate with a family-size allowance—shielding, say, the first $35,000 of income for a family of four—ensures that everyone would pay the same marginal tax rate above that level. A family of four with an income of $70,000 would pay an average tax rate of about 8.5%, whereas the members of the Buffett billionaire club would pay 17%.

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