Tax Policy

Bartlett: Tax Code Abolition Going Nowhere

In 1994 many Republican congressional candidates ran on the flat tax introduced by Congressman Dick Armey (R-Texas). And in 1996, publisher Steve Forbes became a major contender for the Republican Party's presidential nomination running largely on the flat tax.

Unfortunately, rather than choose between the flat tax and the sales tax championed by House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas), Republicans leaders got behind a Quixotic effort simply to abolish the tax code by December 31, 2001, without specifying what, if anything, would take its place.

The logic behind the tax abolition effort is to create an action-forcing event that will compel Congress once and for all to choose a tax reform plan and get behind it.

  • The model is Michigan Governor John Engler's successful tax reform effort a few years ago, which came about only after the legislature first abolished the state property tax.

  • This forced the legislature to adopt a new tax system, which largely conformed to Engler's proposal.

  • The difference is that Engler already had a clearly articulated plan for replacing the existing tax system, and reform was only a matter of getting the votes to pass it.

Voters see the Republicans' move as a transparent political ploy to harness support for tax reform without making any commitments as to what that reform will be. Thus a new poll for the Republican National Committee finds a majority of voters view the tax abolition effort as reckless.

Congress would do better to pass a bill forcing Clinton to propose a tax reform plan of his own. That would ensure a tax vehicle for deliberation that could realistically lead to legislation that can become law.

Source: Bruce Bartlett (senior fellow, National Center for Policy Analysis), March 18, 1998.

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