Issue Position: Tax Reform

Issue Position

The current federal tax code is an abomination. It is too complex, too expensive to comply with, discourages productivity, picks winners and losers in certain industries, provides poor economic incentives, and relies too heavily on too few taxpayers to fund government activities. We need fundamental tax reform to fix the inefficiencies in how the federal government raises revenue.

There are a number of proposals I agree with in principle that would simplify the federal tax code. For example, a consumption tax and a flat income tax would vastly reduce the compliance burden on taxpayers. Also, these plans would also remove the disincentives for businesses and individuals to be more productive and lead to greater economic growth, prosperity and job creation.

Any tax reform, however, must be coupled with an insistence that the federal government also spend taxpayer money wisely and only on those things for which it has explicit constitutional authority.

Updated July 21, 2011

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