Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Andrew Sullivan Now Find A Flat Tax Irrelevant

The Current Irrelevance Of A Flat Tax

"Given the extremes of inequality we are now facing – and likely to intensify as technology cuts yet another swathe through entire industries that sustain a middle class – I have to say I am pragmatically against such a tax now, even though I have consistently supported one in the past. I’m only flip-flopping, I hope, in the best way. A flat tax remains theoretically and symbolically deeply attractive to me. I still believe that penalizing people for succeeding in our economy is unjust to those individuals. But in our current contingency of accelerating inequality, a flat tax would be socially destructive.

And a true conservative seeks to avoid social destruction more than he enshrines ideological purity (which is why I really have no love, and a lot of distaste, for the current GOP). Nonetheless, we clearly, desperately need simpler taxation. And surely that is one area of potential compromise for both the GOP and the president, if the GOP hangs on in the House."

So Andrew Sullivan is now opposed to a flat tax and still calls himself a conservative. And because he does both of these, he thinks there's clearly a compromise between the GOP and President. Suuuuurre.

Hmmm, he also supports same-sex marriage, non-privatized social security, and is opposed to torture and supports a two-state solution in Israel. He calls himself a conservative why? He likes limited government. Maybe once he realizes that no one likes waste, he'll call himself a liberal.

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