Ted Cruz Announces Bold Tax Plan to Dramatically Simplify the Tax Code
“The question is, will we step up and seize this opportunity. Or will it be one of the greatest missed opportunities in modern history?”
Constitutional conservative and Texas Senator Ted Cruz announced a major overhaul to America’s unbelievably complex and unproductive tax system that currently encompasses over 70,000 pages of largely incomprehensible gobbledygook — an outdated system that punishes success and rewards failure while costing Americans billions of hours in productivity each year.
Delivering the keynote address at the nonprofit Tax Foundation’s “Talking Tax Reform” event, Ted Cruz told the crowd that it’s time for the government to get out of the business of picking winners and losers and make America’s tax system fair for everyone.
“Now is our moment to remake our tax system from the ground up, employing conservative principles to create a new tax code that is simpler, flatter, and fairer,” Sen. Cruz said. “Much like Ronald Reagan, today’s conservatives hold to the simplest of ideals: that the best-utilized tax dollar is the tax dollar that goes uncollected. The best place for a taxpayer’s money is with that taxpayer, not the federal government.”
Senator Cruz outlined seven fundamental principles that must be included in order to drastically simplify the tax code and unleash economic growth (see video below):
- Create a Low, Flat Rate: Currently, there are seven individual tax brackets, with rates as high as nearly 40 percent. We should have one low flat tax rate.
- File Taxes on a Postcard: Each year, more than 90 percent of taxpayers seek help to prepare their returns, either through tax preparers or tax preparation software, costing them $99 billion. Simpler, flatter taxes will save Americans time and money, and allow them to file their returns on a postcard.
- Allow Immediate Expensing: Domestic capital investment increases productivity, which results in more jobs and higher wages. And that means higher living standards for American families.
- Lower the Corporate Rate: Companies are leaving the United States in droves, and taking their jobs with them. By lowering the corporate rate to 15-20 percent, America becomes competitive with the rest of world.
- Encourage Repatriation: Current law discourages companies from bringing home foreign earnings. Moving to a territorial system would ensure foreign earnings are not double-taxed.
- End the Death Tax: More than 99 percent of U.S. employer firms are small businesses, many of them family-owned. The death tax establishes a burden that prevents families from being able to keep their businesses running from one generation to the next, and should be put to an end.
- End the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT): The AMT applies to four million households, and requires millions of taxpayers to calculate their taxes twice, once under the regular tax code and again under the AMT. Ending the AMT will drastically simplify taxes for millions of American families.
Ted Cruz told the audience that with Republican majorities in Congress and with a Republican president there is a “historic opportunity” to “produce incredible results for the men and women who elected us.”
“The question is, will we step up and seize this opportunity,” Sen. Cruz said. “Or will it be one of the greatest missed opportunities in modern history?”
Watch the full speech in it’s entirety below:
http://thepolitistick.com/ted-cruz-announces-bold-tax-plan-dramatically-simplify-tax-code-video/
Last time I remember Cruz also wanted to double the earned income credit. I have no idea what is conservative about this or why he gets a pass for this by some of his followers as his main reason for this was to pander to single mothers. Which is not a conservative position. Simple as that and in fact government wanted to replace fathers is the ultimate of big government expansion.