Will Democrats show ANY courage?

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The Governator has thrown the BIG IDEA on the table. More precisely, he has suggested opening the discussion to California instituting a FLAT TAX. Just when I think California, once the land of milk and honey, is over, done for and kaput, and I’m on my way to Colorado to spend the summer on an Alpaca farm for some room to write, boom! Tax Revolution is laid on the table. I was impressed at the recent rejection of the tax initiatives. Now, the Republicans are obviously politically savvy, or desperate enough, to try and sell the Flat Tax. Ahnold wouldn’t have thrown it on the table if it wasn’t already focus grouped.

The question is, will it sell to Democrats? This governators race is going very interestingly. Jerry Brown appears to have a lead among Democrats. Basically, he’s the only viable one in the race. And, he proposed a Flat Tax in his failed Presidential bid. Is it time for him to dust off what was then a very unconventional idea whose time has come? Will he? Can he overcome the Lefts addiction to taxing the rich to pay for its statist solutions?

I will say this. If Jerry Brown is the only one to propose a flat tax in the next gubernatorial election, I will vote for Jerry Brown. At least he’ll be entertaining.

There are two principal arguments for a flat tax- growth and fairness. Many economists are attracted to the idea because current tax systems, with high rates and discriminatory taxation of saving and investment, reduce growth, destroy jobs and lower income. A flat tax would not eliminate the damaging impact of taxes altogether, but by dramatically lowering rates and ending the tax bias against saving and investment, it would boost an economy’s performance.

However, the most persuasive feature of a flat tax for many people is its fairness.

The complicated documents, instruction manuals and numerous forms that taxpayers struggle to decipher would be replaced by a brief set of instructions. The entire tax code could be based on two simple postcard-sized forms.

This radical reform appeals to citizens who not only resent the time and expense consumed by filing their own tax forms, but also suspect that the existing maze of credits, deductions and exemptions gives a special advantage to those who wield political power and can afford expert tax advisers.

No longer would the tax code penalize success and discriminate against citizens on the basis of income.
An end to micromanaging and political favoritism. A flat tax gets rid of all deductions, loopholes, credits and exemptions.

Politicians would lose all ability to pick winners and losers, reward friends and punish enemies, and use the tax code to impose their values on the economy.
Increased civil liberties. A flat tax would eliminate almost all sources of conflict between taxpayers and the government.

Moreover, infringements on freedom and privacy would fall dramatically, since the government would no longer need to know the intimate details of each taxpayer’s financial assets.