The U.S. tax code has grown so corrupt, complicated, intrusive and antigrowth that the system isn’t fixable, writes Senator Rand Paul in the WSJ. Presidential hopeful Paul would “blow up” the entire 70,000-page IRS tax code and replace it with a low, broad-based tax of 14.5% on individuals and businesses. Also eliminated would be special interest loopholes, along with payroll tax on workers, gift and estate taxes, telephone taxes and all duties and tariffs.
With income inequality and “fairness” a growing concern for many Americans, Rand Paul has an “All-American solution: Everyone plays by the same rules. This means no one of privilege, wealth or with an arsenal of lobbyists can game the system to pay a lower rate than working Americans.”
A smarter tax system would turbocharge the economy and help America out of its slow-growth path of the past decade. “Even Mr. Obama’s economic advisers tell him that the U.S. corporate tax code, which has the highest rates in the world (35%), is an economic drag,” writes Mr. Paul.
Rand Paul, who has been consulting with Arthur Laffer and the Heritage Foundation’s Stephen Moore and, recognizes that a big challenge to his plan will be overcoming special-interest groups in Washington who will fight hard to save corporate welfare. A flat tax is surprisingly popular with voters for its simplicity and capacity to boost the economy, but will be met with hostility by crony capitalists and lobbyists.
Rand Paul also pledges, as president, to balance the budget. Read more here from Sen. Paul on why his Fair and Flat Tax plan would eliminate the rot in America’s system, restore fairness to all taxpayers, and be an “economic steroid injection.”
