heh! On eve of election, Democrats call for "fair flat" tax

Stealing the thunder of Republicans, Democrats are pushing for the "Fair Flat" tax.

Twenty years after the last major tax reform act was signed into law, former U.S. Senator Bill Bradley (D-NJ) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) Monday teamed up to urge President George W. Bush to join Congress in once again enacting real tax reform for the American people.

Bradley, the original senator to push for tax reform and author of legislation that was a model for the 1986 Tax Reform Act, remains one of the nation’s leading advocates for a fairer and simpler tax code. Wyden is the author of the Fair Flat Tax Act, a tax reform package which calls for a simplified tax code to benefit middle-income Americans.

The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was a bipartisan effort. Originated by Democrats in a divided Congress, the landmark legislation gained traction only after winning the support of Republican President Ronald Reagan. Bradley and Wyden made their call for an overhaul of the tax code two weeks before the decisive mid-term elections.

“We need to do more than just commemorate the anniversary of 1986 – we need to pass legislation that makes our tax code simpler, fairer and taxes wealth just like it taxes wages,” Wyden said. “In 1986, we made a fresh start, but since that time, 15,000 loopholes and tax breaks have been added to the code – three changes for every working day. It’s time to have a tax code that people believe works for them, not special interests and lobbyists.”

Wyden’s Fair Flat Tax Act has many parallels to the 1986 legislation, including provisions to lower tax rates, broaden the overall tax base and treat work and wealth equally. If enacted, Wyden’s legislation would allow every taxpayer to file taxes on a simplified, one-page 1040 form, collapse individual tax brackets from the current six down to three and set one, flat corporate rate.

It also would end the Alternative Minimum Tax for personal income taxes. By ending a number of corporate tax preferences, the legislation also would reduce the deficit by approximately $100 billion over the next five years, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).Also according to CRS, the Fair Flat Tax Act could provide tax cuts for middle-class families and for families with wage and salary income up to $150,000.

Wyden’s plan provides higher standard deductions for every individual, ends tax provisions that favor unearned income such as capital gains and dividends over wage and salary income, and provides an unprecedented, refundable 10 percent tax credit for every taxpayer’s state and local taxes – a direct benefit for the more than two-thirds of taxpayers who currently do not itemize their taxes.

http://www.salem-news.com/articles/october232006/wyden_reforms_102306.php

We need to simplify the tax code but keep it progressive.

because ending the AMT would create a disaster. Sure, the present system is overcomplicated. Do you know why that is, Wyden? It's because you and your colleagues have spent the last 20 years writing in sweetheart tax breaks to your favorite big donors. Without the AMT, few of them would pay any tax, at all. Corproations are already paying single digit tax rates with the AMT. Do you honestly think creative accounting would allow the IRS to collect a dime without it?

How about FIXING it for a change?

How about crunching those numbers on three, set in stone tax rates, while you're at it? What are those going to do to people making under $50,000/year, the amount it now takes to live decently and be able to save for a rainy day? How big a break are you going to give the Paris Hiltons, Scaifes and Waltons? Do you honestly think raping labor and fattening the rich have been good for this country?

The problem with men like you, Mr. Wyden, is that you want simple solutions to complex problems. Reagan promised we could send our taxes in on postcards, and you see what Congress has done to that idea to please their big donors. It would happen to your plan, too.

Until the deficit is paid off ? Then we all get a break. Now that is a conservative and common sense approach.

Oh, another flat tax proposal. Right . . . back to my nap now.

Methinks they got no farther than the word "flat". First, if they had they'd see that this advocates three tax brackets. "Flat" means one tax bracket. This is obviously not a flat tax.

The big thing is the tax on wealth. I would LOVE to see investment income taxed the same as earned income. The argument against taxing investment income, "people will invest less if they have to pay taxes on their investment," is just as stupid as the argument against taxing earned income, "people will work less if they have to pay taxes on their income". If there is money to be made, people are going to make it.

The really odd thing about rightwing economists is that they see income taxes as a disincentive to work or invest, but they don't see sales taxes as a disincentive to purchase. EVERYONE cuts spending on occasion. Almost NOBODY purposefully cuts their income.

Yet, 50% of Americans believe this idiotic logic. It boggles the mind.