Another Reason for the Flat Tax

Yak and Guides in Tibet - photo by JoAnn Sturman 

Scott Sturman

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reported religious conservatives in the fledgling Indonesian democracy wish to impose a five year prison sentence on anyone criticizing the country’s president or vice president.  Appalling?  Of course, but at least their motivations are plainly in view.  Muzzling political opposition in the United States takes on more subtle tactics, and none is more nefarious than using the IRS to penalize citizens who disagree with those in power.  Administrations from both parties have not been squeamish about sending the dreaded letter from the Treasury Department to overly vocal dissidents.  The question is, which essay, speech, or political contribution will be the last straw and enough to provoke Prince John to send the Sheriff of Nottingham knocking at the door?

Since its inception, FIYE has supported the flat tax–not only for its simplicity, fairness, predictability, and computational efficiencies, but as a way to prevent politicians and bureaucrats from rewarding or punishing tax payer behavior:  Flat Tax Revisited    Taxing the Uber-Rich   Taxes–Not Getting Your Money's Worth.  The blind impartiality of the flat tax allows the marketplace rather than the granting of special benefits and loopholes to define the collection of taxes.  With no one group, individual, or corporation receiving tax exemptions, the inability to tinker with the system or resort to heavy handedness, which no politician seems able to resist, will shift power away from Washington and all those scalawags who call it home.