Most experts agree that the Reagan tax reform
plan would directly benefit upper- and lower-income people the
most. Indirectly, however, it would most hurt middle- and
lower-income people, who spend a larger share of their income
than the rich do and who would, thus, be hardest hit by the
Reagan plan's increase in corporate taxes, routinely passed on
to the consumer: Although it does some good up-front for the
poor, the Reagan tax plan directly cuts away at the progressive
individual income tax and also quietly imposes a regressive, "value-added", national sales tax (as levied outright in
Britain). This inflationary policy is unfair and uneconomical.
Tax simplification can be better done by
eliminating loopholes but making the individual income tax more
progressive and also by preventing the tax-sheltering of
individuals' wealth within corporations, which should be
legally restricted from passing on to consumers any increase in
taxes. This, like any comprehensive tax reform plan, would be a
substantial chore; but that is part of the job our legislators
are well paid to do -- to serve the legitimate needs of the
majority of the taxpayers, not the necessarily selfish interests
of most P.A.C.'s or lobbyists.