Theodore J. Forstmann and Stephen Moore
May 13, 1998
Theodore J. Forstmann is founding partner of Forstmann Little & Co and
served as a member of The National Commission on Economic Growth and Tax Reform.
Stephen Moore is director of fiscal policy studies at the Cato Institute and
served as an economic consultant to the Commission.
In his wonderful book, For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization, historian Charles Adams reminds us that: "From the earliest records of civilization, tax laws have taken away liberty more often than foreign invaders." Anyone who has had to undergo the indignity of a lengthy IRS audit will not find overstatement in those words. Because of the vague and subjective nature of the current tax code, the criminal provisions of the tax code could technically be used to imprison virtually every taxpayer who signs his name to a return.
A few years ago Parade Magazine polled its readers about whether the current income tax system should be entirely scrapped and replaced……… By 50 to 1 margin readers said abolish the tax code. The most intriguing finding of all was that the editors reported that even hundreds of IRS agents responded with a plea to ax the current tax code.