Forbes Defends Flat Tax

Yesterday, we blogged Michael Kinsley's Washingon Post column blasting Steve Forbes's new book, Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS.  Steve Forbes makes the flat tax case in an op-ed in today's Wall Street Journal, One Simple Rate:

A major domestic battle looms this fall, when tax reform -- a centerpiece of the president's bold domestic agenda -- will finally be on the table. The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform is expected to release its findings by the end of September. After the political shellacking the White House took on Social Security, the administration will be strongly tempted to take a conciliatory path that supports only superficial reforms, essentially preserving the status quo of our hideous income tax code.

Such a course would have perilous consequences, economically and politically. In fact, the administration has an opportunity here to boldly retake the initiative, to recover lost political support and thrust an already decent economy into high gear and, at the same time, make America better able to meet intensifying competition from China, India and others. How? By junking the entire federal income tax code and starting over with a flat tax. A growing number of countries are doing this -- and so should we.