The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
Leonard Burman is a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute, Codirector of the Tax Policy Center, and Visiting Professor at Georgetown Public Policy Institute. Views expressed are his own.
HOST INTRODUCTION: Whatever you do with your tax refund—if you got one—presidential candidates want you to know they believe you should keep more of the money you earn. If that pledge is what it takes to win votes, tax expert and commentator Len Burman has just the candidate.
SCRIPT: Hi, I'm Len Burman and I'm running for president. I've got a campaign platform that just can't be beat.
I'm abolishing taxes! All of them.
Just throw away that 1040. We won't pay for what the government buys. That's the government's problem!
Bush says if you don't support his tax cut, you're favoring tax increases!
Well, I'll go him one better--a 100 percent tax cut. Why pay corporate taxes, personal taxes, excise taxes, social security and Medicare taxes?
Without the death tax, you'll have an incentive to keep on living!
But if you vote for Bush, you're voting to keep taxing each American household $16,000 a year!
Compared with my plan, that's a huge tax increase! A vote for Kerry would set you back even more. The choice is obvious.
My critics say taxes are needed to pay for government. Oh, get your heads out of the civics text-books!
If running a puny half-trillion dollar deficit can stimulate a little growth, just imagine how much a two and a half trillion dollar deficit would turbo-charge the economy!
The US would become a tax haven. Indian high-tech companies will set up their call centers here!
Critics argue that, with no source of revenue, nobody will want to hold US bonds. So what? If things get really bad there's always the IMF.
Why should Third World countries get all the breaks?
Hey, already 258 members of Congress have pledged to never ever raise taxes. Spending is set to explode as the baby boomers start retiring. We're clearly never going to pay our bills, and evidently it's no big deal!
If you like Bush, you'll love Burman. Vote for me!
In Washington, this is Len Burman for Marketplace.
TAG: Some satire from Len Burman, codirector of the Tax Policy Center, a joint venture of the Urban Institute and the Brookings Institution.
The nonpartisan Urban Institute publishes studies, reports, and books on timely topics worthy of public consideration. The views expressed are those of the authors and should not be attributed to the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders.
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