Human Events Op-Ed by Adam Hasner

Florida Senate candidate Adam Hasner has written an excellent op-ed for Human Events that was published this morning:

Human Events | Adam Hasner | Tax Problems Not Too Complex For Simple Answers

It’s no secret that Sen. Bill Nelson and I disagree on most of the issues facing America.  One of those issues is tax reform, which I believe is fundamental to growing America’s economy...

"Disagree" is putting it lightly: as Hasner points out, Nelson has been in office since the Carter administration but has never taken a single step to actually reform our tax system. Nelson has, however, used his time as my Senator to vote for lots of tax increases (almost 150 times in the past decade alone).

Hasner spends the rest of the article detailing his common-sense approach to tax reform:

The reality is that true tax reform will never be possible in Washington so long as typical politicians in both parties are in charge.  Their answer is always another commission, another task force, another investigation—but never any real action.

...I support eliminating loopholes and subsidies, but only in exchange for across-the-board cuts to tax rates for individuals and corporations.

Special-interest exemptions don’t work.  Favoring some companies over others and placing the government in a position to pick winners and losers in the free market only makes our tax code more complicated and burdensome...

Hasner continues his discussion by noting that our extremely complicated tax code amounts to a "hidden tax" on Americans, by forcing them to hire accountants just to comply with the law. He also calls for the abolition of the death tax, and reduction of taxes on capital gains and dividends, with the goal of establishing a tax code that taxes income just once.

The right tax reforms create certainty, which allows job creators to make investments that will lead to expansion and ultimately new jobs.  This is a key element for economic growth and job creation.

...If these ideas don’t sound complicated, it’s because they’re not.  They are time-tested and part of the ideological framework this country was built on.  

We don’t need “super committees” coming up with new ways to tax and spend more—we need new leaders with the courage to support the common-sense ideas we know will work.

Read the full article here.