Replying to a message of Jeff Binkley to Bob Ackley:

 JB>>> Obama suggests value-added tax may be an option

 BA>> Only if the congress abolishes the income tax and the
 BA>> states ratify the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment.

 JB> Steve Forbes and I have had that very discussion a number of
 JB> times for  the flat tax and VAT.  He is for repealing the
 JB> 16th amendment and  putting in a flat tax, period.  Not
 JB> repealing it will allow Congress to  make it incremental.

Not repealing it will allow the congress to re-establish the income tax, period.
The federal income tax was declared unConstitutional back when Lincoln tried it,
that's why there's a 16th Amendment (which only says that congress can tax
incomes; estates are *not* incomes).  If you want the income tax (I don't) you
could amend the amendment to force the tax rate to be a fixed rather than
incremental.
.

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