Charlie Rangel Unplugged!

I am currently watching Charlie Rangel on CSPAN being interviewed regarding his tax plan. Some of the highlights I have heard from him tonight:

1. Alternative Minimum Tax. Charlie says it is unfair, was a bad tax when instituted and is a bad tax now. Now that it has grown out of control and will impact far more people than originally intended, he wants to get rid of it. Of course, he mentions that everything that this House will do is "paygo" which to Charlie means that if he eliminates this unfair tax, he finds another revenue source. Problem is that he is talking about future revenue!!!!!! The big problem in Washington is even though they agree that this tax is growing like a weed out of control, they are entitled to the tax revenue that this tumor of a tax is likely to bring NEXT YEAR!

2. We should all thank Charlie for his proposal to reduce the corporate tax to 30.5% from 35%. The real issue here is that Charlie doesn't want to talk about the fact that many economists debate the entire concept of corporate tax at all. Efficient organizations will always either figure out a way to reinvest and avoid a tax or pass the tax burden on to the consumer. Inefficient organizations pay the tax and the burden falls on the investor class (a significant percentage of which are everyday folks in unions, individual investors and retirees).

3. Because the Senate has more stringent debate rules, it is acting as an unfair check on the House. This one is a real howler! Read the Constitution Charlie! The House was always intended to host the more emotional debate. The Senate was specifically designed to ensure that our laws were subject to a more deliberative process than the House could ever provide. Charlie should propose to amend the Constitution and fix this horrible injustice! (tongue placed firmly in cheek)

4. Not one mention is about reducing expenditures. It is all about switching tax buckets, not controlling spending.

5. Republicans are proposing a flat tax. Charlie says this is bad because it impacts poor people regressively. The problem here is that Charlie is not paying attention to what is happening to people at the lower end of the scale right now. They are already being taxed regressively. His issue is REALLY that politically a flat tax would not allow him and his colleagues to claim they weren't taxing anyone by making the "progressive" tax plan more aggressive at the high end.

6. The Administration is proposing nothing in terms of taxes or the alternative minimum tax. I know it is popular in congress today to repeat falsehoods on both sides and hope the media makes them true. Both sides have proposed solutions to this problem for 5 years. There are no points to be awarded to either side on this one.

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