Arlen Specter: “I will use this occasion to again introduce legislation for the flat tax. The flat tax is a new structure of taxation of…”

“I will use this occasion to again introduce legislation for the flat tax. The flat tax is a new structure of taxation of income in the United States under a model proposed by Professors Hall and Rabushka, from Stanford University, which would enable taxpayers to file their returns on a simple postcard, which I hold in my hand, where the tax return can be filled out in the course of 15 minutes. It has some 10 lines to fill out: Wages, personal allowance, number of dependents, mortgage interest deduction, charitable contributions, total for deductions, total taxable compensation, tax of 20 percent, tax withheld by employer, and the tax or refund due. We have a system in the United States today where the statistics are astounding. There are some 582 tax forms to be filled out by Americans who file their tax returns.”