Perry's Tax Slogan Plan
Governor Rick Perry (R-TX) proposed his tax reform plan today and wrote this Wall Street Journal op-ed. Unfortunately, it's just a slapdash of slogans. If this plan were enacted as proposed, it would lose a lot of revenue, reward the rich, and complicate filing for most taxpayers.
Giving taxpayers the option would also mean that only those who pay less would opt in, guaranteeing significant revenue loss.
Pulling a post card out of your pocket is easy to do, but deciding whether to exercise your option to use that post card or to file under present law would add another layer of complication to April 15, just as we found with the Alternative Minimum Tax and the myriad of IRA filing options
A flat tax is a consumption tax in most versions, and Governor Perry would also eliminate tax on qualified dividends and long term capital gains, all of which mostly benefit the rich. Like many economists, I would prefer not to doubly tax dividends, but a large portion of dividends go to tax exempt accounts and are paid by corporations which didn't pay full tax on them.
See my last post for my views on going to a territorial tax system.
I'm pleased that Americans are debating the tax system. It's certainly needs sensible reform. To do a good job is going to require informed debate -- more than slogans.
Does Perry own stock in
Does Perry own stock in Intuit? It would be all the more reason for everyone to buy the software. Of course all the talk about complexity of the tax code, ignores the software which does much of the work if you work in interview mode which just asks questions.
no policy, please-- we're Republicans
"Unfortunately, it's just a slapdash of slogans."
Well... yes. Perry is running for the *Republican* nomination for president.
Republicans don't have policy views. They have a series of cultural resentments, and a handful of slogans crafted in response to the policy challenges of 1978.
Remember, the Congressional GOP put out an economic "plan" a little while back that consisted mostly of pictures of families smiling at the camera. Republicans had for years had modestly supportive views on cap-and-trade, on the EITC, on Section 8 housing, on Keynesian stimulus, and of course on the individual health insurance mandate. Then a Democrat became president, so Republicans rejected those policies with universal, savage ferocity, decrying the proposals they'd formulated as unconstitutional socialistic fascism.
Perry's tax plan is exactly what we'd expect from someone running for the GOP nomination.