Letter: For tax reform, national sales or flat tax the answer

In DC, the issue du jour is tax reform, generally interpreted as personal and corporate income tax.

Politicians claim they want a system that is simpler and fairer than the current. If so, I suggest replacing the income tax with a national sales tax or value added tax. Either of these meets the criteria of fair and simple. But neither of these taxes are easy for politicians to manipulate to provide unfair benefit to those who explain their need with an appropriate amount of cash.

Since the most fair and simple ideas will be a non-starter, how about a flat rate income tax on gross income with all forms of income (including capital gains and real estate profits) treated alike? Not as easy to manipulate as the current system but still allows politicians to hand out some favors.

While the rhetoric is “fair and simple,” what I expect Congress to produce is an even more complicated system loaded with extra goodies for those whose campaign and party-building donations speak loudest. As an additional prognostication, I predict tax reform will be passed like Obamacare. That is by a simple party-line majority and with no public review or analysis before the vote.

This story was originally published November 10, 2017 at 6:12 PM with the headline "Letter: For tax reform, national sales or flat tax the answer."