It’s tax time again, leaving many Americans asking why the process has to be so hard and some calling tax laws unfair to the poor and middle class. Flat tax proponents say it is both easy and fair. Opponents label it “class warfare.” Is it time to change the system?
Edited by Steve St. Angelo
Yes
Daniel Mitchell
Senior fellow at the Cato Institute and an expert on tax reform and supply-side tax policy
Every April, Americans endure the misery of the Internal Revenue Service code. It is hopelessly complicated and nerve-wracking since the IRS has such immense powers to destroy people’s lives. It is time to implement a simple and fair flat tax.Instead of the hundreds of forms required by the IRS, the flat tax uses two simple postcards. Families use the household postcard, and all they need to know is their labor income, available on a W-2 form...
No
Holley Ulbrich
Economics professor emeritus and senior fellow at the Strom Thurmond Institute at Clemson University
Albert Einstein said that “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler.” Good advice for people who want to redesign tax systems. It’s true that there are now 24 countries with a flat tax, but none of them got there by scrapping an established progressive income tax system nearly 100 years old. Fifteen of these countries are formerly Communist countries of Eastern and Central Europe. The others...
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