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November 11, 2004
Flat and Fair?
Caroline Baum takes a look at the possibility of a flat tax on income or consumption. Could it be done fairly?
Any attempt to lower the tax rate, broaden the base (by eliminating deductions) and effectively tax consumption produces cries of ``unfair.''
And it's a legitimate criticism from a nation steeped in a progressive, graduated income tax system. The poor can't save; they spend everything they earn. A sales tax would be regressive.
Even in the pure flat tax envisioned by Hall and Rabushka, ``there are two brackets: zero for the poor and 19 percent for everyone else,'' Hall said.
Under either a flat tax or sales tax, the poor would be given an exemption ``that recognizes the right of a family to provide for itself before it provides for the government,'' said Pete Sepp, vice president for communication at the National Taxpayers Union, a non-partisan advocacy group in Washington.
Posted by Peter Mork at November 11, 2004 10:48 PM
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» Sales Taxes and "Helping the Poor" from A Stitch in Haste
How exactly do you give the poor, or anyone else, an exemption from a sales tax? [Read More]
Tracked on November 13, 2004 4:20 PM
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