fictional family. The results: no two came up with the same tax total and not one preparer calculated what Money magazine believed to be the correct federal income tax. Fewer than one in four came within $1,000 of that figure. What's worse is that even the people at the IRS whose job it is to provide answers to taxpayer questions don't always understand the tax code. In 1993, for example, the IRS provided confused taxpayers with 8.5 million incorrect or incomplete answers” (Armey). The flat tax replaces the current income tax code, with its maze of exemptions, loopholes, and targeted breaks, with a system so simple Americans could file their taxes on a postcard-size form. The Tax Foundation estimates that a flat tax would reduce compliance costs by 94 percent, saving taxpayers more than $100 billion in compliance costs each year. No longer will families have to maintain shoeboxes filled with receipts and canceled checks. So, the clearness of the flat tax will end for individual Americans the anguish over a system that treats them like second-class citizens.According to the advocates, the flat tax will restore fairness to the tax law by treating everyone the same. No matter how much money you earn and what kind of business you are in, you would be taxed at the same 17 percent rate as every other American. The flat tax replaces today's complicated maze of politically motivated tax breaks with a simple, honest system. There would be no tax breaks or special loopholes. “According to one study by a former chief economist for Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, under the flat tax the economy would be 5.7 percent larger after five years than under the current system. That translates into $522 billion in higher output, or $3,000 in higher income for the typical family of four. Michael Boskin, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisors, estimates that the flat tax would increase the size of the economy by ten perce...
