Who of the Candidates Has Fairest Tax Plan of All?

[Valin]

Townhall:

Stephen Moore

Feb 06, 2016

 

With the first real votes being cast in the presidential race Monday, this is an opportune moment to do some last-minute comparison shopping on the candidates' tax reform plans. On this issue there's a lot to cheer about. All the Republican candidates have crafted plans that would slash tax rates for everyone and most would vastly simplify the thousands of pages of IRS tax code.

 

Ted Cruz and Rand Paul have endorsed flat-tax plans that, for full disclosure, were designed by Arthur Laffer and myself. These plans have drawn some criticism from the Right of late, though these attacks are mostly baseless.

 

Ben Carson wants a low-rate flat tax, too, and he would heroically eliminate all special interest deductions and carve-outs. Mike Huckabee is pushing a national sales tax to entirely replace the income tax. Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, John Kasich and Donald Trump want to cut personal income tax rates 20 percent to 25 percent while eliminating indefensible loopholes.

 

One common goal of nearly all these plans is to turbocharge growth by dramatically lowering the business tax rate (now the highest in the world) and reducing the punitive double taxation of investment income. Most GOP plans would cut the corporate/business tax to 15 percent to 25 percent.

 

(Snip)

 

I'd take any of the GOP plans over the current tax laws. But it's hard to see how cutting individual tax rates from 40 percent and business taxes from 35 percent down to 17 percent or less isn't a big winner for the economy. The flat tax won't make America look like Europe; it will make America race past Europe and the rest of our competitors. That's conservative and pro-growth -- and fair.

 

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Bold Mine. And IMO the real point of the...discussion