So on Dec 4th Glenn Beck was on the O'Reilly show and he floated the idea of a 2% Flat Tax tied to a balanced budget amendment that would go directly to the deficit for nor more then 10 years and would be a Constitutional Amendment. It was interesting watching these two, I will just use the word personalities, talk to each other. The exact words were that if we guarantee no more spending we need a tax to fix the deficit.
The first thing that I found surprising was that these two conservative personalities would put the idea of a flat tax out there. Now on the surface this sounds like a pretty good idea. But, I am not so sure. After I thought about it for awhile and read some things and talked to a few people I wonder how good it actually is. Putting aside the idea that it is odd that two leading conservative television hosts would advocate for more taxes. I found it odd that the amount infrastructure that would be needed to administer a flat tax is enormous. I was talking to my friend Steve about this idea and he raised an interesting point.
Steve said that regardless of whether or not you liked the idea of more taxes for what ever higher purpose. That the need for states and communities to have to develop a system to collect the flat tax revenue makes the idea a poor one. He countered with "why not, since the system is already in place nationwide to collect Federal Income Tax, why not just add 2% tax to that and earmark it strictly to go to the deficit." Steve thinks that the core base viewer for Beck and O'Reilly would not like them advocating for more taxes.
The more I think about it I think he is correct. Even if it is just on the logic side of things as how do you put together the infrastructure to collect that VAT. In some areas you would just be creating more government and we all know that the Beck style Conservative does not want to create more government.
There are lots of problems in America and one of the major ones is the deficit and how do we get out from under it. So, while it is interesting to hear figures throw out new ideas this one is not a workable one in my opinion. I also would like to hear from my readers. Do you think this is workable? What would work better? Why do you think we are in this position? Are we going to ever be able to actually get out of this hole? Please let me know your thoughts.
3 comments:
I would only support a flat tax if it replaced the system already in place. I cannot support more taxation, I can support a different type of tax, just not more. I don't think that we need to worry about running a deficit, we do need to worry about extending the debt, and growing the deficit, but I don't know that it is possible for an organization as large as the US government to function without being in a deficit situation. Conservatives are not opposed to tax, there is a need for a monetary fund to provide what the constitution requires the government to provide to the people, conservatives are opposed to poor or even criminal use of these funds, to use for items or services that are not guaranteed the citizens in the constitution. There was an article I was reading on the Yahoo site the other day about how much the congress spends for it's own housekeeping. The numbers were in the millions for just running their offices for a single quarter. I don;t see how that is justifiable by any person no matter what your ideological bent. Conservative fiscal values can get you out of the obscene spending that our nation is pushing towards, that would lower or slow the deficit growth, but as I said earlier, I do not believe it is possible for this government to operate without a deficit.
My socialist-leaning self thinks the flat-tax is a bad idea. I think it's reasonable to ask those that make more to pay a higher percentage. And I believe some folks don't make enough to cover rent, let alone pay taxes. I certainly don't make as much as Mr. Beck and Mr. O'Reilly, but I do make more than some and have no problem contributing more.
Flat tax also means no deductions, so that would benefit couples like us, but it seems to work against those with kids to support.
Also - would this apply to corporations that currently don't have to pay? Or just us workers?
Just some random thoughts from me on the subject.
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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