ComingTogether Plan

The Flat Tax is a small book to describe and advocate a particular tax reform proposed in 1996, so it is slightly dated for use in political discussion today. However, it is an excellent exposition of the advantages of tax simplification and fairness.

Congressman Armey expected that the tax code would soon be thrown out and replaced with something far simpler, fairer, and more efficient (9). Unfortunately, he was a bit over-optimistic about the power of the people to get things changed.

Relationship to the ComingTogether Plan: Armey, a former economics professor who eventually became Majority Leader of the House of Representatives, proposed a key principle that we find to be very important: all income is to be taxed once and ONLY once. Following this guideline jumpstarts a nation’s efforts to reach the goals of simplicity and transparency in the tax code.

Another principle which he expresses well is that of rewarding an honest day’s work. “The flat tax… assumes that earnings are best left with the people, that they will spend their own money more wisely and productively than even the most well-intentioned government in the world” (66). Too many legislators are blind to the discouraging effect of ever-increasing taxes on individual workers or employers; if honest work no longer offers rewards, dishonest work begins to seem attractive.

But the ComingTogether Plan proposes an income tax that is even flatter and simpler than that proposed by Congressman Armey. Most of his arguments in favor of a flat tax are really more applicable to our proposal.

The Flat Tax is an easy read from which important lessons can be gained regarding taxation. If the details of the particular proposal advocated can be ignored, almost any reader could learn valuable principles, so we recommend this book to all interested in improving our economic system.

Armey, Richard K. The Flat Tax: A Citizen’s Guide to the Facts on What It Will Do for You, Your Country, and Your Pocketbook. New York: Fawcett Columbine, 1996. Print.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 16th, 2012 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Book Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.