Flat Tax

Over on The Sports Economist, Dr. Skip Sauer has a post up about the possiblities of a flat tax coming back in style. Here's the nice quote from his post:

Presidential commentary: In my view, Clinton's otherwise superb record on economic policy was compromised by his eagerness to litter the tax code with gimmicks for favored programs. Bush has a chance to play a bit of catch-up here.

Now my feelings on President Clinton in terms of economics is that he did best when he did least. It's a very good thing that he didn't get Hillarycare passed. He didn't meddle as much as he could in the economy. Yes, he did litter the tax code with all sorts of special favors, but he did have the Republican Congress for 6 of his 8 years along for the ride. It would be nice if the Republicans could right that ship by installing a flat tax or even better a national sales tax.

The problem is that President Bush has only a certain amount of political capital in the tank. If he pushes for a flat or at least flatter tax, then he's going to have to give up something in return. Thus, I give you

Mike's Top Five Policies President Bush Should Push for in His Second Term

5. Strengthen Free Trade with select countries (Australia to start)
4. Flatten the Income Tax or Enact a National Sales Tax
3. Social Security Reform
2. Medicare/Medicaid Reform

And the Top Policy President Bush Should Pursue in his Second Term...
Getting strict constrictionists on the nation's courts

I should really stop talking about lawyers and the legal system so much, but they're playing a greater and greater role in the way our nation functions. And that's not a good thing. So by putting strict constrictionists in the federal courts, there can at least the start to getting our nation back from the grips of trial lawyers.