Replies to post #16584 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[ardent jd]

BobMcP

That is why all deductions under a strict flat tax should be eliminated. This country spends something like 2% of GDP just complying with the tax code....before we even begin to pay taxes! What a waste.

Aside from simplification and fairness, the greatest virtue of a flat tax is that it makes it difficult to raise taxes, which have now risen to the highest level (as a percent of GDP) in this nation's history, aside from WWII. Even in The People's Republic of Massachusetts, which has a flat income tax and is where I live, the tax rate has not risen in the 30 years I have been working. When the tax burden falls equally hard on everyone, politicians cannot play off one segment of the population against another by plying the myth that somebody else is picking up the tab.

[jbennett53]

A national sales tax? You are very right to be worried because that would put an end to consumption which by extension would put an end to our economy.