April 15 tax day

April 15, 2004

Tax Code Kills Civil Libertiess

by Chris Edwards
Chris Edwards is director of fiscal policy at the Cato Institute.
Many Americans filing their income taxes are appalled by the large amount of earnings taken by the government. The income tax is also appalling from a civil liberties perspective because of its inequity, complexity and intrusiveness. While President Bush cut taxes, the tax code remains a monument to social engineering run amok.

Help may be on the way with some congressional leaders planning to move ahead with reforms next year to replace the income tax with a low-rate consumption-based tax. That would go a long way toward reducing the following civil liberties abuses of the current tax regime.

The current tax code is the main abuser of our Constitution.