‘Flat Tax’ pulled from a final vote – for now

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

The ideological holy grail of the far-right — the flat tax — has been pulled from a final vote in the Arizona Legislature by the bill sponsor, Steve Court (R-Mesa). Mesa lawmaker drops flat-tax proposal – for now:

Calling it too much to sell in a short time, the author of a flat income tax system for Arizona has dropped his plans.

“I don’t think we have enough time to educate members and the public as to the pros and cons of the bill,” Rep. Steve Court, R-Mesa, said Tuesday. He also noted that he has received various calls and questions since the measure was approved by the House about what they saw as unintended consequences of making such a radical change.

Court said he remains committed to the change.

 But of course he is. It is ideological dogma. It is a matter of faith on the far-right, economic data and reality be damned. The public must be "educated" (indoctrinated) by far-right media to convince them that giving all their wealth to their über-rich plutocrat masters will "trickle down" and benefit them.

It is Mr. Court who needs an education in economics and reality. I recommend that readers read the entire report, Wealth for the Common Good » Shifting Responsibility: How 50 Years of Tax Cuts Benefited the Wealthiest Americans, but this short excerpt from the report addresses this "flat tax" nonsense:

Many conservative critics of our current federal tax system are calling for a “flat tax,” a system that applies the same tax rate to all taxpayers, no matter how high their income may be. To a distressing degree, our overall tax system — federal, state, and local — has already “flattened.”

This great tax shift is exacting a high price. We see that price in America’s staggeringly unequal distribution of income.

In 2007, America’s top 400 averaged $344.8 million in income. A half-century earlier, in 1955, the top 400 averaged, in 2007 dollars, only $12.7 million. The bottom line: The incomes of America’s top 400 have multiplied, after inflation, by 27 times since 1955. But 1955’s top 400 paid over three times more of their incomes in federal income tax.

The top 1 percent’s share of total U.S. personal income, in the meantime, has jumped from 9.96 percent as recently as 1979 to 23.5 percent in 2007. The top 1 percent income share has, these figures show, more than doubled. The share of their income the top 1 percent pay in total federal taxes, over that same stretch, has dropped by a third.

We also see the high price that tax cuts for the wealthy exact whenever a “we-must-live-within-our-means” elected leader claims we have no alternative to cutting the programs that benefit low- and middle-income American families.

And our children and grandchildren will see even more of that high price tomorrow, when they will be asked to pay back, with interest, the trillions our federal government has been borrowing to offset our loss of tax revenue from wealthy taxpayers.

We can — and must — do better by our future generations.

[A]fter 50 years of promising broad based tax cuts, middle class taxpayers have little to show. With rising deficits and long-deferred investments in public infrastructure and education, there is an urgent need for additional revenue.

Below is our proposed “Economic Recovery Tax Program.” Taken together, these policies would:

-Collect over $450 billion in revenue from those with the greatest capacity to pay.
-Discourage financial speculation.
-Strengthen the overall economy.
-Generate revenue for deficit reduction and investments in infrastructure and job creation.
-Introduce greater transparency, fairness, and simplicity to the tax code.

Read the entire report, Wealth for the Common Good » Shifting Responsibility: How 50 Years of Tax Cuts Benefited the Wealthiest Americans.