Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
As mentioned previously, Senator Sam Brownback desires to experiment on Washington DC and impose a flat tax instead of the current federal income tax. Today, he will hold a hearing on the subject with several dissenters in attendance. The DCist reports:
Brownback will chair a hearing to further explore the issue, one that he has openly proclaimed to be excited about. His excitement may be tempered by stiff opposition from D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams, though, their non-voting status notwithstanding. The hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. in 124 Dirksen.
We’re not real big fans of the idea. It’s not so much that we think a flat tax won’t work, it’s that we’d rather not see it imposed by congressional fiat. Lord knows the country’s tax system could use an overhaul and the tax code a good re-write, but the District may not be the best place to start for those trying to be creative about it.
I completely agree. I don’t have the requisite economics background to declare this beneficial or otherwise, but I am sure that a Senator from Kansas should not be making decisions about Washington DC. DC is far overdue for some real representation. Senator Brownback should stop using DC citizens as his personal guinea pigs.
The larger context of this hearing is the 2008 GOP primary. Senator Brownback is posturing for the Steve Forbes wing of the republican base which could otherwise be turned off by his government intrusion into private lives. Brownback hopes to buy them off while he advances his radial agenda of intolerance.
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Blogging Against Senator Sam Brownback Since March 2005
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March 8th, 2006 at 8:18 am
I can appreciate DC’s reluctance to be bossed around by the very people they are facilitating, but what about the benefits of a flat tax? DC pays an incredible sales tax (10% on my recent visit) and has a poverty rate much higher than the rest of the US. I suppose that presenting two sides of an issue is beyond the reach of this website, especially if Sen. Brownback were to be looked upon with even an ounce of favor.
This isn’t the first time the federal government has looked to install a flat tax in DC. In fact, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (Democrat) was one of its biggest supporters in 1996, when she proposed it. Del. Norton’s change of heart (not hypocrisy) seems to be a more interesting story than Brownback’s retread of a DC flat tax.
April 3rd, 2006 at 11:07 am
I live in DC and I hope that Brownback’s cheap election year stunt moves forward. I’m actually not in favor or opposed on substantive grounds. I haven’t looked at the proposal yet. However, as people who chafe under the tyranny of taxation without representation, DC residents would welcome the attention that Brownback’s proposal would bring to our cause of voting rights.
Why? Because you can’t find a more blatant abuse of Congressional authority over the District than this one. Senator Brownback is actually proposing to write tax law for a group of people who have to pay what the dude from Kansas and his friends from places like Georgia, Wyoming, and New Hampshire want to extract from our wallets. We have no Senators to argue on the floor against it or to insert provisions. We have no voting members of the House to trade votes and bargain over it. This is naked taxation without representation. It is government without consent of the governed. And I am optimistic that if Brownback or any of his colleagues have the chutzpah to push this beyond just a publicity-seeking hearing, then the ghosts of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will rise up and go on a rampage a la Kill Bill Vol. 3.
A frightenly large number of Americans are still ignorant of the fact that over half a million DC residents are subject to the same federal income taxes as the residents of the states, without having the priveleges of voting representation in Congress, the body that makes the tax laws and spends the tax revenue. Brownback’s pathetic stunt could backfire just enough to help us dispel some of the ignorance.
Not only that, perhaps people would also notice that DC residents fight and die in wars that we have no say in passing or appropriating funds for. Or they might notice that DC residents tax themselves quite heavily through a 10% sales tax and a state income tax that reaches 9.5% really fast and yet we do not have final say over how our LOCALLY RAISED taxes are spent because we have no budget autonomy. DC City Council’s appropriations must be approved by our unelected overseers in Congress.
April 18th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
Then move to VA or MD.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:14 am
and washington, adams, and jefferson should have moved to britain right? DC is my home.