April 9^th

I watched Rand Paul announce his Presidential bid a day or so ago. He certainly had something for everyone. I heard him say that, “If there were any laws that disproportionately incarcerate people of color they will be repealed.” That might get him some votes from “people of color” but the better course might be to remedy the situations that lead people of color disproportionately to break the laws. But hey, if you’re going to pander you might as well go whole hog!

He railed at considerable length about the enormous debt the country has, which happens when you have unfunded wars, but then he came to his tax plan, or rather his no tax plan. He is pushing an income tax plan which he calls the EZ Tax. This is a flat tax of 17 percent on all wages. There would be exemptions and deductions so far unspecified; but then you’ll pay 17 percent on the balance. That’ll be 17 percent whether your salary is 50 thousand dollars or 50 million dollars. The Senator clearly believes that everyone should be treated the same.

On second thought, not entirely the same because there will be no federal income tax whatever on dividends, capital gains or estates. This means that if you have a five million dollar nest egg and you invest that at just five percent the 250 thousand dollar yearly income will be entirely free of federal tax and when you’re dead your kids can continue the tax free income. This will encourage more stock market “investment” because the profits from it will be untaxed, indeed profits probably will not even need to be reported. I’ll bet many rich folks will know a good thing when they see it and start shoving money into Rand’s campaign.

Most tax gurus claim that Paul’s EZ Tax plan will cost the treasury about 700 billion dollars a year compared with the current tax system. Not to worry though because Paul plans to cut spending. What spending does he plan to cut? He hasn’t said but his mantra is small government. When he starts cutting defense spending and crosses those Senators and Representatives with big defense plants in their districts he’ll hit a buzz saw! Still, it’s nice to contemplate such low taxes even if it’s just another politician offering pie in the sky.

Pushing his agenda on the tube has caused Paul some trouble. On CNBC, the business channel, he told Kelly Evans who was interviewing him to “calm down.” Later on he managed to contest the stage with Savannah Guthrie of NBC, telling her, “No, no, no…” eight times so as to get his very subtle points across; points he was sure she failed to understand. I wonder if he would try that arrogance on Joe Scarborough if he is interviewed on “Morning Joe?” The Senator does have an understandable problem with arrogance: He is the son of a Congressman; he got early admission to an elite medical school; he was elected to the Senate as his first elective office; he is a candidate for President and he is also a bit short. All of these can be avenues to arrogance. Maybe his arrogance will disappear if he faces a strong male interviewer. When that happens it should be fun to watch!