Reason has an interview about with Steve Forbes about the 2016 presidential campaign. Mr. Forbes cautions Republican presidential candidates against tax-reform proposals featuring two different rates:
take Rubio: he's put a plan out there but it has two rates instead of one. And when you put two tax rates together, it's like putting two rabbits together—they will multiply. We should have learned that from 1986 when we got it down to two rates. Within a few years, the weeds were growing again. So you've gotta do one. Because if you have one and you want to make a change, you can't say, "Oh, that guy will pay. You won't." And if you're going to make a change, the simplicity is its best defense. If you're gonna make a change, everyone sees what you're doing. Whereas, with the current code today, you can put something in, it'll be two years before somebody discovers it.
Mr. Forbes is also critical of Republican proposals to dramatically expand the child-tax credit:
it's a form of social engineering. It's one thing to have basic exemptions. You should be allowed to keep a certain amount of income to meet the necessities of life. That goes back to the code in 1913. But the idea that you can try to get people to have more kids by having a generous credit, or this will appeal to the middle class, or some such thing, is wrong. It does not help the economy, and the experiences of other countries show if you're pro-population it's not going to do much there.
