From: pinky@milton.u.washington.edu (Robert Burbank)
Subject: Jerry Brown: A look at taxes
Followup-To: alt.activism.d
Originator: rich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 1992 21:20:19 GMT

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Topic 59        Inquiry re Brown's Tax-Plan     Response  3 of  3 
pnickitas 
elections.usa    4:15 pm  Mar 31, 1992 
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5306 Juniata Street Duluth, Minnesota  55804-1340 (218) 525-2833 
29 March 1992 

Ms. Jodie T. Allen 
% The Washington Post 1150 15th Street NW Washington, D.C.  20071 

Dear Ms. Allen: 

        I take issue with your essay, "Flat Taxes, Flat Wrongs, 
And Campaign Snake Oil," in the 22 March 1992 Outlook Section of 
the Post.  I have three lines of dispute. 

        First, your paper's admitted failure to expose the 
Reagan-Kemp-Roth tax cut as the cruelest con job of the 1980's 
leads me to read your article with more than a mere grain of salt. 
Once William Greider exposed the game in his December, 1981, 
Atlantic Monthly interview-article with David Stockman, you did 
nothing to bring down Mr. Reagan's government, or lead public 
opinion to a full repudiation of it.  Washington Post Co. profited 
handsomely from the accelerated cost recovery provisions of Mr. 
Reagan's tax cut, while it bankrupted the working men and women of 
this country. 

        Second, you give no coverage to one campaign proposal that 
intends to diminish the national debt, Eugene McCarthy's one-time 
federal wealth tax on multimillionaires and his defense import 
duty. 

        Third, Jerry Brown's flat tax makes sense.  First, those 
who claim that the 13% flat business tax will merely flow to 
consumers fail to admit the obvious:  businesses already pass all 
taxes, be they federal gasoline, luxury, or airplane ticket taxes, 
to citizen consumers.  Second, Mr. McIntyre's numbers do not add 
up.  Please examine these and reconsider your position: 



Now 


Gross Income             $30,000.00 home mortgage interest (70% of 
$500 monthly payment x 12)              -4,200.00 standard 
deduction for married couple                 -4,250.00 Adjusted 
Gross Income:    21,550.00 x 15%  tax rate Federal Income Tax 
3,232.50 7.65% FICA tax                2,295.00 

Total Federal taxes (not counting gas, luxury, airplane ticket, 
user fees, or corporate income taxes passed on): 
$5,527.50 

Jerry Brown's Flat Tax Income                    $30,000 $500 
monthly rent x 12                             6,000 Adjusted Gross 
Income:   $24,000 x 13% tax rate                   3,120 Total 
Federal taxes (not counting similarly passed-on business taxes): 
$3,120 

The difference between the present 4,000 page tax code and the 
Jerry Brown flat tax for this not-so hypothetical couple is 
$2,407.50.  If the couple had all interest in their mortgage 
payment, their tax would drop by $270, but would still be 
$2,137.50 more than Jerry Brown's plan.  Furthermore, one may 
argue that the employers' equal share of the FICA tax consists of 
purely lost earnings to the employee.  In that case, the present 
system imposes and additional $2,295.00 burden on this 
hypothetical couple.  Jerry Brown's flat tax makes $ense for low 
and working class Americans.  It also helps the affluent few. 
Only corrupt, corporate special interests and the battalions of 
tax attorneys and accountants they must hire as guides through the 
byzantine labyrinth of the federal tax code like the present 
system, which has, by the way, added $3 trillion dollars to the 
national debt since Mr. Reagan took office. 

        Two wrongs do not make a right, and snake oil cannot clean 
up snake oil.  Report the campaign vigorously, Ms. Allen, as your 
readers expect, but imitate Sergeant Joe Friday and give us "just 
the facts, ma'am." 

                                                        Sincerely, 

                                                        Peter J. 
                                                        Nickitas 

cc: Jeff Cohen, FAIR, 130 West 25th Street, New York, NY  10001 
     Citizens' Media Watch, Brown for President, 3022 Washington 
     Street, San Francisco, CA  94115 


Newsgroups: misc.activism.progressive