Chris Edwards Debates the Flat Tax on CNBC

[ForTehNguyen]

IRS budget is massive, this BS of a tax code requires so much enforcement and the IRS still comes up short. Flat tax enforces itself naturally and doesnt require a monster bureaucracy like the IRS.

[kstompaint]

This is par for the course. The libs use "firefighters and teachers" as examples. If lazy people didn't get "free" government money, the "firefighters and teachers" (and other productive members of society) wouldn't have to pay thier share!

Ahh, libs won't understand this concept... it employs common sense.

[BasicEconomics]

I prefer the flat tax over the fair tax (national sales tax) because I think if we do a fair tax, someone will come along and bring back the income tax and we will be stuck with both, like Western Europe

[Surhotchaperchlorome]

This would greatly increase growth and freedom, so the amount the gov't makes would be increasing too.

It would simplify the tax system, freeing up labor and time. It would allow even poor people to pay less in taxes (much less if we eliminate the inflation tax, as would happen in this plan).

[Surhotchaperchlorome]

Speaking of taxes, here's how to reform our tax system: abolish all taxes, all sources of government revenue, period. Start from ground zero with a nation sales tax of 1% (obviously there would be state sales taxes too, but hopefully, they'd get lowered to no more than 1%).

This would give us a total taxation of 1%-2% of GDP. Or no less than $132 billion to $264 billion a year. Not bad if we get rid of uneeded govn't spending. :P

[whoo689]

And lastly, what's with that guy's charge that mortgage or homeownership deductions "made us a homeownership society"? Really? Come on! We became a "homeownership society" through increased wealth and prosperity across all levels. People got higher incomes and were better able to afford things like houses. It's not that hard to understand. A mortgage deduction or tax credit is only a fraction of the actual mortgage cost. To say that it "made us all homeowners" is ridiculous.

[whoo689]

Who the hell is this big-gov't hack host? He seems little more than some partisan Democrat trying to pass off as "pro-business." He's also very arrogant and sounds angry. I'm glad Chris Edwards raised his voice and sounded a little angry at all the ridiculous counterpoints to the flat tax.

I mean, it's not like the gov't couldn't legislate an income under which you don't pay taxes, just like with the current income tax, under a flat system. Besides, we need to cut spending.

[whoo689]

Is CNBC a "true" business network, or is it mostly just liberal businessmen trying to argue for a "more compassionate" free market? I saw a clip recently on ReasonTV where Nick Gillespie debated a guy from CNBC on bailouts, and Gillespie was more of a fiscal conservative! He was the pro-limited gov't one, while this CNBC guy sounded just like a Democrat.

[whoo689]

The people who advocate mostly against the flat tax oftentimes are people who think the only way to raise this HUGE amount of gov't spending for big gov't is the income tax. First of all, that probably is not true, and secondly, if it does reduce revenues, good! We need to cut spending along with cutting taxes. Government needs to be reined in. Obama can't just excuse all this excessive spending because he's "investing" in the economy, and I'm sickened by the Democrats' misuse of that word.

[CountArtha]

I was already on his side, but he didn't do a very good job of selling the Flat Tax.

[lordaltay5]

I too favor a simpler tax code (though I would prefer no income tax over a flat income tax) but I thought he did as well a job presenting his argument as is possible in a <5 min clip with several other speakers.