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Jason Smith, if he didn't exist, someone would try to invent him. Currently in Austin, Texas.

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Rick Perry & A Flat Tax

Q: But for those at the top, it is hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of dollars for them.

Rick Perry: But I don’t care about that. What I care about is them having the dollars to invest in their companies. To go out and maybe start a business because they got the confidence again because they actually get to keep more of what they work for. If that’s what comes, I’ll take that criticism. Because what I’m interested in is getting Americans working.

Rick Perry is proposing a 20% flat tax. If you are already against a progressive tax system my commentary on this will be mostly meaningless.

The effective tax rate on the top incomes in our country has fallen for the last twenty years, and we have not seen a commensurate investment in business and job growth that Governor Perry claims will happen with a tax cut.

My issue here is with how wealth is created and what the extremely wealthy do with their money. If you have a job and are earning this kind of income it is unlikely you will use your money to start a new business employing hundreds of out of work Americans tomorrow. You are already tremendously successful and being rewarded for it. The earnings will, most likely, be invested into the stock market. Those companies will work to create the best possible long-term growth strategies.

This probably means pursing growth in a BRIC1 country. The money invested in American multi-national companies will go to support their growth in an area that will give the most return on their investment. This isn’t a bad thing, but when proposing a flat-tax under the guise of propelling domestic growth an understanding of the flow of capital in a global economy is necessary. It will not result in a substantial reshaping of our economy or growth in jobs.

I have spoken about income inequality before. How we address this is still unknown to me, but as a nation there are better uses of our national resources than a flat tax that will actually result in a stronger, and hopefully, more equitable economy.

This tax plan will never be implemented, but I am weary of hearing people talk about the wonders that a flat tax of any kind represents.

1. Brazil, Russia, India, China

Source: The New York Times

13 notesShowHide

  1. thatfrenchman said: Did you expect anything less than nonesense coming from Perry?
  2. jasonsmithtx posted this