Notice the clever muddying of this fact in the press release that was put out by Rand's office:
Today, Sen. Rand Paul proposed the 'Fair and Flat Tax' which would eliminate the current tax code. In order to defeat the Washington Machine, we must drive a stake through the heart of the IRS and our terrible tax code. Sen. Paul's plan is simple, fair, and cuts taxes for every single working American...
The Fair and Flat Tax is...Notice how there is no mention at all in the release of his call for a valued added tax. The wording is such that it creates the impression that Rand simply want a flat 14.5% tax across the board for personal income and business income. Not so,
Flat: one 14.5% rate for all individuals and businesses..
"My plan is... a flat 14.5% tax on individuals, but goes even further by completely eliminating the workers tax. It is also a 14.5% flat tax on businesses and eliminates corporate welfare. The only groups that will hate this plan are the lobbyists and big corporations that depend on Washington for handouts and special favors. This tax plan is not for the Washington Machine, but for every single working American," Sen. Rand Paul said.
Rand's "14.5% flat tax on businesses," is not a tax on business income, it is a tax on the increased value added at every stage of production. Details here.
This is simply outrageous. How could any libertarian support such a tax move? He wants to replace the income tax with a combined flat personal income tax and a value added tax!! Both taxes are much easier to collect and much easier to increase after being implemented into the system.
Further, the deceptive manner in which Rand presents his value added tax points to his true character as an evil politician. Since all politicians, and advocates of more government, are in favor of higher taxes, this muddied method of calling for the value added tax is simply a method to hide the proposal from libertarians and others of just how high he wants taxes to be.
Thus, libertarian Rand Paul-fanboys can no longer claim that Rand is muddying things so that he can get the vote of interventionists and slip into office. In the case of the VAT, he is muddying things to hide from libertarians and other low-tax advocates that he really wants to tax far beyond the flat personal income tax.
-RW
He is courting the rank and file conservative Republicans who like the idea of a flat tax. He's been courting them at the expense of his libertarian base for the last few years. The fact that his poll numbers are in the toilet with this routine doesn't seem to phase him.
ReplyDeleteRand reminds me more of neoconservatives with each passing day. He has that same arrogance, the same unrelenting belief in his strategy, regardless of the outcomes staring him in the face.
Outrageous. More foreign military intervention and new avenues of taxation as well. You called it all along, RW. Would like to observe the spectacle of any libertarian voicing his support for Rand and this platform.
ReplyDeleteBringing us in line with the European Union's VAT will help Rand fund 1,000 additional members of the FBI, and keep brigade strength at a level to fight 2 wars simultaneously, just as Rand wishes. What a stroke of conservative genius.
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