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Brownback's Flat Tax - Take 2

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on D.C. and architect of an experimental, federal flat tax scheme for D.C. residents, will lead the Committee's second hearing on the proposal at 2:00 this afternoon.

[Listen to the hearing live here.]

Under Brownback's proposal, adoption of the flat tax would be optional for D.C. residents and would not affect their local tax bills (which are among the highest in the nation).  Using the District as a testbed, the experiment is intended to illustrate the simplicity and pro-growth effects of a flatter tax scheme.

Slated to testify at the hearing are the District's CFO, the Chairman and the CEO of the Federal City Council, and the Brookings Institute's Director of the Greater Washington Research Program.

Sen. Brownback discussed the merits of his system earlier this month:

I believe that a flat federal income tax would create more economic activity and jobs in the District, which would enhance the District’s ability to raise revenue while actually lowering its own high local taxes... Our tax system should be fair, simple, and easy to understand. One way to make the system more fair is to have taxpayers pay taxes based on a single, flat rate which is applied to all taxpayers equally and which includes a generous personal exemption to protect low-income families.
...
Those who want to stay under the current system would be free to do so. I think, however, that if people are given a chance, they will abandon the current burdensome system. Each year, taxpayers in the District suffer like all Americans from the burden of our maddeningly complex tax code. This confusion is one reason why almost two-thirds of all taxpayers have given up trying to figure out how to complete their own tax returns and now simply pay someone else to sort it out.
...
A benefit of a flat tax is that it removes the double-taxation on money saved or invested. I do not think that dollars on which wage earners have already paid taxes should be taxed again when those dollars are saved or invested. This double-taxation creates a disincentive to saving and investing.

Somewhere, Steve Forbes is smiling.

Previously:  Keep It Simple, Senators

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Brownback's Flat Tax - Take 2

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on D.C. and architect of an experimental, federal flat tax scheme for D.C. residents, will lead the Committee's second hearing on the proposal at 2:00 this afternoon.

[Listen to the hearing live here.]

Under Brownback's proposal, adoption of the flat tax would be optional for D.C. residents and would not affect their local tax bills (which are among the highest in the nation).  Using the District as a testbed, the experiment is intended to illustrate the simplicity and pro-growth effects of a flatter tax scheme.

Slated to testify at the hearing are the District's CFO, the Chairman and the CEO of the Federal City Council, and the Brookings Institute's Director of the Greater Washington Research Program.

Sen. Brownback discussed the merits of his system earlier this month:

I believe that a flat federal income tax would create more economic activity and jobs in the District, which would enhance the District’s ability to raise revenue while actually lowering its own high local taxes... Our tax system should be fair, simple, and easy to understand. One way to make the system more fair is to have taxpayers pay taxes based on a single, flat rate which is applied to all taxpayers equally and which includes a generous personal exemption to protect low-income families.
...
Those who want to stay under the current system would be free to do so. I think, however, that if people are given a chance, they will abandon the current burdensome system. Each year, taxpayers in the District suffer like all Americans from the burden of our maddeningly complex tax code. This confusion is one reason why almost two-thirds of all taxpayers have given up trying to figure out how to complete their own tax returns and now simply pay someone else to sort it out.
...
A benefit of a flat tax is that it removes the double-taxation on money saved or invested. I do not think that dollars on which wage earners have already paid taxes should be taxed again when those dollars are saved or invested. This double-taxation creates a disincentive to saving and investing.

Somewhere, Steve Forbes is smiling.

Previously:  Keep It Simple, Senators