Forbes' flat tax is a certain recipe for financial chaos

[norml]

Forbes' flat tax is a certain recipe for financial chaos
By MARIANNE MEANS


When Congress returns next month, President Bush's latest effort to distract us from the bloody mess in Iraq will be to shift the national dialogue toward more, ever-bigger tax cuts.

The hand-picked advisory panel designed to provide him political cover for what are bound to be controversial recommendations will kick things off with a report in September. The stated goal is to simplify the tax code. But it is not clear how far the panel can go in an era of huge federal deficits.

Billionaire Steve Forbes, who centered his losing 1996 and 2000 presidential campaigns around the nutty idea of going to a flat tax, isn't waiting. He's back crusading again for the concept with a book, a Wall Street Journal article and several pitches to conservative commentators.

This is a weird notion that has not improved with time. In the name of ending the complications of the tax code, it would tilt the basic burden from the very rich, such as Forbes, to wage-earning workers — and also shrink the revenue stream that finances the government.


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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/outlook/3328828

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. It all comes down to eliminating the revenue streams for Social Security

and Medicare. Every single rw tax "proposal" has that agenda behind it.

[Wapsie B]

2. And they've got so many working class people buying into it.

The initial concept sounds tempting to many but few delve into it further to honestly know what Stevie is talking about with his flat tax.
Soundbites are all they hear.