Repeating
what other colonial powers have done in times past, instituting policies or
systems not possible to do on the home front, the US imposes a flat tax on Iraq
that might be the equivalent of a Superbowl ad: great marketing for a huge
audience. KWC U.S. Administrator Imposes Flat Tax System on Iraq By Dana Milbank and Walter Pincus,
Washington Post Staff Writers The flat tax, long a
dream of economic conservatives, is finally getting its day -- not in the
United States, but in Iraq. It took L. Paul
Bremer, the U.S. administrator in Baghdad, no more than a stroke of the pen
Sept. 15 to accomplish what eluded the likes of publisher Steve Forbes, Reps.
Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.) and Richard K. Armey (R-Tex.), and Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.)
over the course of a decade and two presidential campaigns. "The highest
individual and corporate income tax rates for 2004 and subsequent years shall not exceed 15 percent," Bremer wrote in Coalition
Provisional Authority Order Number 37, "Tax Strategy for 2003,"
issued last month. Voilà! Iraq has a flat tax, and the 15 percent
rate is even lower than Forbes (17 percent) and Gramm (16 percent) favored for
the United States. And, unless a future Iraqi government rescinds it, the flat
tax will remain long after the Americans have left. "It's extremely
good news," said Grover Norquist,
head of Americans for Tax Reform and a Bush administration ally. Bremer's vaguely worded edict leaves open the possibility that Iraqis
could face different levels of taxation below 15 percent, but "they told
me it's a flat rate and it appears as though it's a flat rate," Norquist
said. The tax fighter added: "It
might be a hint to the rest of us." Bremer's new
economic policy for Iraq will slash Saddam Hussein's top tax rate for
individuals and businesses from 45 to 15 percent. Of course, since Hussein's
government, like others in the Middle East, almost never enforced tax
collection, there
is no real history of paying taxes in the country. Bremer's
statement in the following excerpt from Joel Brinkley's piece in today's NYT is
coded language for: Keith Hudson, Bath, England, <www.evolutionary-economics.org>, <www.handlo.com>, <www.property-portraits.co.uk> |
- [Futurework] We're getting the hell out Keith Hudson
- Re: [Futurework] We're getting the hell out Karen Watters Cole
- Re: [Futurework] We're getting the hell out Ray Evans Harrell
- RE: [Futurework] We're getting the hell ou... Karen Watters Cole
- Re: [Futurework] We're getting the hel... Ray Evans Harrell
- RE: [Futurework] We're getting the hell out Harry Pollard
- Re: [Futurework] We're getting the hell out wbward
- Re: [Futurework] We're getting the hell out Ray Evans Harrell