Swimming Against The Tide
It seems a day doesn’t go by that some liberal or progressive politician doesn’t call for higher, or certainly more progressive, taxes. Especially two of the three presidential candidates. Consequently, it’s a pleasant surprise to read that a foreign country is considering adopting a flat tax. This seems especially prevalent among the former communist countries of Eastern Europe.
The latest is Hungary, according to today’s Budapest Times, which reports:
“Small conservative opposition party the Hungarian Democratic Forum (MDF) last Thursday said it would attempt to force the introduction of a flat tax after a coalition split raised the prospect of a minority government.”
In 2006, Chris Edwards, Director of Tax Policy at the Cato Institute, testified before a U.S. Senate subcommittee:
“The countries of Eastern Europe have shown the way ahead with sharp cuts to individual and corporate income tax rates. These countries have shown that low-rate flat taxes are not just an economist's dream, but a practical reality that can boost growth, reduce tax avoidance, and increase fairness.”
Dan Mitchell has blogged about this several times at Cato@Liberty.
HT: Drew Nordgren at NTU’s Government Bytes.