| Taxes - Choose Your Poison Old Tax Return versus Proposed Tax Return Below we have printed the tax return you would have to file should Steve Forbes be elected president and get his programs enacted. When you have completed your tax return for 1999, you might want to fill out the form to determine the difference in dollars, time and frustration between his proposal and our current system. I have been a fan of Mr. Forbes' flat tax proposal since he first proposed it, for the reasons I gave in last quarter's essay on "Prosperity." But even I was surprised when I heard Steve's response to presidential candidate Gary Bauer in a recent debate. Mr. Bauer took Steve to task for dropping the mortgage interest deduction and the charitable gift deduction in his flat tax proposal. Steve replied, "We'll give you the choice, file either the flat tax form or the old 1040 forms complete with the mortgage deduction and the charitable deduction. The taxpayer can file whichever one he/she chooses." Now I've known for a long time that Steve's program would allow you to do this, and that individual choice and responsibility is at the core of all his programs; yet, I was surprised when I heard a presidential candidate say that an individual taxpayer could calculate his taxes in multiple ways and choose the lesser tax rather than the greater tax, as is now often required. That Steve Forbes should be the only one of six Republican candidates (all of whom favor some tax cuts) who would allow the taxpayer this choice speaks volumes about how far we are from understanding what makes a free economy work. And it means that I must find better ways of explaining the ideas in my essay on "Prosperity."
Ron Muhlenkamp
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