Cato Daily Dispatch for October 18, 2005
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Reforming the Federal Tax SystemAbortion Dominates Supreme Court Debate
Partying with Federal Aid
Reforming the Federal Tax System
"President George W. Bush's tax commission has rejected the idea of a national sales tax and voiced misgivings about European-style consumption taxes, drawing complaints of timidity from critics who wanted the panel to scrap the income tax," reports the Associated Press.
"The President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform will meet today to start wrapping up its work on recommendations for making the federal tax system fairer, simpler and better for economic growth. [T]he members will revisit the possibility of recommending a value-added tax -- a levy used widely in Europe that imposes a tax on the increased value of a product at each stage of production and passes it on to consumers."
Chris Edwards, director of Cato's tax policy studies, has these observations about Bush's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform: "Under no circumstances should the United States consider a value-added tax (VAT), as the Tax Panel is discussing today. This country is unique among major industrial nations in not having a VAT. That uniqueness is a key reason why Americans have greater economic freedom than Europeans, and why our economy is much more vigorous than that of most European countries."
Edward adds: "The Panel has apparently shied away from fundamental tax reforms in its proposals. While the Panel's recommendations may move in the right direction in some areas, Congress should consider proposals that fully scrap the income tax in favor of a flat rate consumption-based plan."
Abortion Dominates Supreme Court Debate
"After meeting with Supreme Court nominee Harriet E. Miers, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter yesterday said she told him that she believes there is a right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution, an underpinning of a woman's right to have an abortion, and that two key privacy cases were rightly decided -- which he considered to be significant factors in determining her judicial philosophy," The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
In "The Key Issue for the Court Isn't Abortion," Edward H. Crane, president of the Cato Institute, writes: "For too long conservatives who understand the Enumerated Powers doctrine and the role the Constitution plays in limiting the power of government have allowed the religious right and Planned Parenthood to control the debate over the future of the judiciary in America. The litmus test for any judge must always be his or her view on Roe v. Wade, as though abortion and abortion alone should determine who sits on the federal bench.
"Now, abortion is a serious issue -- one in which I've always believed neither side gave due credit to the valid arguments of the other. ...But the fact that the abortion debate so controls the debate over judicial philosophy is unfortunate. There are more important issues out there, such as federalism and private property rights, the cornerstones of our liberty."
Partying with Federal Aid
"Hurricane Katrina evacuees hastily handed $2,000 in federal relief money last month have been living it up on Cape Cod, blowing cash on booze and strippers," according to The Boston Herald. "[The] Herald reporters witnessed blatant public drinking at a strip mall by Katrina victims living at taxpayer expense at Camp Edwards on Otis Air Force Base. And strippers at Zachary's nightclub in Mashpee, a few miles from the Bourne base, report giving lap dances to several evacuees."
In "Bush's Blank Check," Stephen Slivinski, Cato's director of budget studies, writes that President Bush "is planning to give each displaced worker [of Hurricane Katrina] $5,000 of taxpayer money for job training. He's proposed $2 billion in tax 'incentives' to bring businesses back to the area. Federal taxpayers will also pick up the tab for the education expenses of all students forced to relocate, whether they attended private or public school. Certainly the biggest part of the whole plan is the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast. But that doesn't just mean the infrastructure the federal government has control over. It's likely an assortment of other things too: from homes and businesses to shopping malls and parking lots."
Slivinski continues: "[T]he president states that the federal government will pay a 'great majority' of the bills. For all intents and purposes, Bush has given a blank check to elected officials in the states affected by the hurricane."
Greg Garner, editor, ggarner@cato.org