18 Jun '15 14:32>
Republican U.S. presidential candidate Rand Paul is proposing that businesses and individual Americans pay a federal flat tax of 14.5 percent in a plan that would cut the government's tax revenue by more than $2 trillion over 10 years.
The Kentucky senator's plan, which he describes in a Wall Street Journal's opinion piece being published on Thursday, would establish a 14.5 percent flat-rate tax applied equally to all personal income, including wages, salaries, dividends, capital gains, rents and interest.
All deductions except for a mortgage and charities would be eliminated under the proposal. Paul said the first $50,000 of income for a family of four would not be taxed and that for low-income working families, the plan would retain the earned-income tax credit.
"My tax plan would blow up the tax code and start over," Paul wrote.
His proposal also would eliminate the payroll tax on workers and several federal taxes including gift and estate taxes, telephone taxes and all duties and tariffs.
He said he would also apply a uniform 14.5 percent business-activity tax on all companies, down from as high as nearly 40 percent for small businesses and 35 percent for corporations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/us-usa-election-paul-idUSKBN0OY05O20150618
I don't hate it though I fail to see why gifts and estates shouldn't be taxed and don't agree that the mortgage and charity deductions should be maintained if all others are eliminated. But I think the proposal itself is not a bad starting point for discussion.
So discuss.
The Kentucky senator's plan, which he describes in a Wall Street Journal's opinion piece being published on Thursday, would establish a 14.5 percent flat-rate tax applied equally to all personal income, including wages, salaries, dividends, capital gains, rents and interest.
All deductions except for a mortgage and charities would be eliminated under the proposal. Paul said the first $50,000 of income for a family of four would not be taxed and that for low-income working families, the plan would retain the earned-income tax credit.
"My tax plan would blow up the tax code and start over," Paul wrote.
His proposal also would eliminate the payroll tax on workers and several federal taxes including gift and estate taxes, telephone taxes and all duties and tariffs.
He said he would also apply a uniform 14.5 percent business-activity tax on all companies, down from as high as nearly 40 percent for small businesses and 35 percent for corporations.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/18/us-usa-election-paul-idUSKBN0OY05O20150618
I don't hate it though I fail to see why gifts and estates shouldn't be taxed and don't agree that the mortgage and charity deductions should be maintained if all others are eliminated. But I think the proposal itself is not a bad starting point for discussion.
So discuss.