Proponents of a flat tax decry the complexities of the IRS and the tax code as a combination of corruption and social engineering. Sometimes supporters of a flat tax even dare to suggest that it is a bad idea to have half the population living tax free off the other half. However, no proponents note the real reason to institute the flat tax: the flat tax soaks the rich. by Paul Benedict
(libertarian)
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Technically, evening the tax rates is called a flat tax, but rarely are the flat tax plans really flat. Proponents decry the complexities of the IRS and the tax code as a combination of corruption and social engineering. Sometimes, in the subtext given beneath the surface, sometimes with rye humor, and occasionally as a forthrightly declared point of evidence for the need for change, supporters of the various flat tax proposals shyly, and blushingly, indicate that it is not such a great idea to have half the population free of taxation while the other half pays all the taxes. The Heritage foundation calls it the principle of fairness. No proponents of the flat tax, however, note the real reason to institute the flat tax: the flat tax soaks the rich.
Until this principle of social justice and equality is understood, the proposed flat taxes will be prohibitively high and packed with overt attempts to redistribute income "fairly."
Yes, with a true flat tax, those greedy workaholics that only care about money will end up paying more and more of the bill for the social services the rest of us use. Now that's the American dream. That's how it's supposed to be.
Oh, sure the European Commies may have figured it out. They've been all over the flat tax for the last thirty years. Moreover, the flat rate has been decreasing among the "ex-Soviet block" nations as time goes on. It started at 26% in bitsy Estonia in 1997 and Georgia had the cheek to go as low as 12% in 2005 ("Global Competitiveness"). But the red rascals haven't exposed the real secret to the West. Their rich are now paying more taxes than they were before. If this secret information were to escape to the West, the West would never use the flat tax system. Hence, it will take a cyber Geek of great power to be able to pull the statistics to prove how much the energy barons of the former Eastern block now pay. Nevertheless, fellow class warriors, we can see this principle in action in several examples from U.S. history. It is true comrades. Every time the U.S. has moved the tax brackets closer, the rich have ended up paying more of the total tax than they did before! To soak the rich we MUST move towards a flat tax. Here, this is what the Georgian "ex-Commie" pond scum wouldn't reveal to us even on the secret Soros websites:
Equality, smality! Who cares that this is equality before the law? It works! The rich pay more with a flat rate! We have been so fooled by the totalitarian lies that punishing the rich assures us of an equality of the results that we have missed the gravy train. Here it is again in the 1920's:
During the years from 1918-1925 the top marginal rate went from 77% to 25%, and, paradoxically, as a result, the rich paid even more! We've got to try this.
For too long we've been so convinced equality of outcomes trumps equality before the law that, in trying to hold down the rich, we've been holding ourselves down!
Now, some of those religious lunatics, those that believe that justice is equality before the law will run around claiming victory. They'll yell and scream a bunch of baloney about how man cannot improve on the invisible laws of prosperity set up by the God of nature. They'll say that all this proves that class envy is wrong. Humbug... That's all speculation. Let them squawk. It's scientific economic principle that works. We get our social programs paid for by the rich. That's all that matters.
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 3
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Paul Benedict only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Paul Benedict is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
