Flat tax? Just Say NO!
by Michael Tivana

Feb. 19,2002 - The repeal of the progressive income tax for a flat tax only hurts our country as it creates an unfair and unhealthy distribution of wealth. The income tax system was originally set up as a fair way for the government to raise revenue. Those that have the ability to pay taxes are the ones that support the government. This was created in a bi-partisan effort by amending the constitution. The notion that a flat tax is fair is the latest in a litany of regressive tax propaganda. What the country needs is a progressive system that distributes the wealth of the country more equally.

This country first passed an income tax in 1862 under the direction of President Lincoln (R) to pay the extraordinary expenses of the Civil War, and it was rescinded by vote in 1872. In 1909, President Taft (R) proposed that an income tax was the fairest way to divide the cost of running the government. He believed the income tax should be based on an individual's "ability to pay". With bi-partisan support, the income tax was revived with the passage and ratification of the 16^th amendment to the constitution on Feb. 3, 1913. Taft, as I'm sure you know was very conservative, and his son, Robert was head of the GOP right wing during WWII and after, major Senator and Presidential candidate. How things have changed in the Republican party.

At the beginning, the income tax applied only to the rich: 99 percent of the population was exempt. At that time it started as a 1 percent tax on net personal income over $3,000, with a surtax of up to 6 percent if the income was over $500,000. Our current tax structure begins on incomes over $7,450 for a single wage earner. That $3,000 from 1913 is equivalent to $50,500 today. Clearly we have headed in a driection that favors the rich at the expense of our country's integrity and the true spirit of Taft's "individual's ability to pay" form of taxation.

The capitalist economy in which we live is a stratified pyramid system. You cannot build the pyramid higher without building the base. The wealthier the poor means the wealthier the rich as the poor have more money to spend to increase the profits at the top. The income tax is a way to balance the wealth of our country which guarantees the health of our economy and our society as all citizens experience the benefits of living in a wealthy country. In such a tax structure all benefit, from the most to the least productive.

Spreading the wealth through progressive taxation benefits the country with: less poverty, less crime, more civic pride (better social services, libraries and facilities), better infrastructure, and a higher standard of living.

But from the beginning, the income tax has been riddled with exemptions as the rich move to shelter their income from it. This is called regressive taxation. It is what the flat tax people are calling the fair tax structure.

The progressive wealth distributing income tax has been gutted so much since Reagan / Bush in the 80’s that it can be seen as a flat tax already. All of us, from rich to poor, pay about one-third of our income in federal taxes.

In the last 20 years, according to an editorial in the Capital Times & Wisconsin State Journal: The Columbia Study says the nation's poorest - those with incomes up to $5,000 a year - have fared worst. They hold on to 18 percent less of their income than people in similar circumstances 15 years ago. People with incomes of $50,000 and up are doing the best. They keep up to 57 percent more of their income than they did in 1980. The people in the middle, making up to $50,000 per year, keep the same amount of their incomes as in 1980.

It is all a question of fairness claim the rich. Tax us the same as we tax the poor they say. But I say it is difficult to defend as just, a system of taxation that requires a waitress or a mailman to pay exactly the same percentage of his income in taxes as Bill Gates.

In short, the current administration expects more from the poor and less from the well-off. A flat-tax would only weaken the country and increase the illnesses of a disparate system. What we need is an improved progressive tax where the rich get richer without leaving the poor behind. It is time for the conservatives to see through their short-sighted greed and begin to understand that benefiting the whole benefits them as well.

This is a very tricky subject, and has been argued for years. I've long thought that a progressive tax with NO DEDUCTIONS is the way to go. Rates go up with income. It is critical, I think, to eliminate special interest deductions, loopholes, many rules all of which provide lots of wiggle room for the prosperous. It would seem to me that the current system does not conform to the 4 /14th Amendment- equal protectiion under the law. If someone can work the system, while others cannot, then there's a big fairness problem pertaining to access as well as economic fairness. Simple is good; simple is fair.