As a portent of the 1996 election, the "flat tax" is the political equivalent of pulp fiction. It's an escapist evasion of the real choices about the size and the role of government that Americans face. We already have a president who promises to protect all popular programs, promoting the illusion that benefits will never be curbed or modified. Now come the Republicans— who until recently have been fairly candid about budget choices— peddling the illusion that a flat tax will ignite a burst of economic growth that will wash our hardest choices away. It won't.
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