The American Spectator : Rudy Thinks FAST

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Rudy Thinks FAST

By Ronald D. Rotunda on 1.25.08 @ 12:07AM

He's pitching an alternative maximum tax. Tax lobbyists are not amused.

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FAST would allow people to opt between it and the regular federal tax code every year. If you like complexity, then choose the present system. But if you want a simpler tax code, you can choose FAST. You tax form will be one page -- shorter than this article.

Tax lobbyists who like complexity may use their corporate jets to strafe Capitol Hill if FAST becomes the law. The rest of us will not shed a tear for them. We will benefit, first, because the IRS will be returning to us some of our own money. Second, it will be giving us the gift of time.

Americans spend nearly 6.5 billion hours annually filling out tax forms, keeping records, and learning tax rules. Complying with federal income taxes costs our economy $200 billion each year. Rudy would end that waste.

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topics:
Taxes, Health Care, Economics, Law

About the Author

Ronald D. Rotunda is professor of law at the Chapman University School of Law.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (1) | Leave a comment

Terry Pratt| 11.30.10 @ 6:33AM

Sure, tax cuts are good for the economy, but not necessarily good for taxpayers who are poor. This may be irrelevant to those who are not poor, but of great concern to those who actually are poor.

As conservatives often remind us, tax cuts do not occur in a vacuum, and tax changes affect the economy - and its component households and businesses - dynamically.

Thus, while tax cuts result in economic growth and job creation, they also result in higher rent structures. (Tax cuts --> economic growth --> job creation --> more wage-earners --> greater household formation --> reduced rental vacancy rates --> higher rents.) These higher rents typically are sustained for years, as housing creation requires lengthy lead time; in an expanding economy, supply lags behind rising demand.) Giving a low-wage worker a $200 annual tax cut makes that person worse off if his rent increases $500.

After the Reagan tax cuts, my rent increased five consecutive years, and I had to move three times when I could not afford the higher rents.

Tax cuts are good for the economy but some workers can't afford them.