GrammNet Issue 3/28/99 Dear Friend, Here it is, hot off the presses: my column on Steve Forbes from today's issue of the Quad City Times (Sunday, March 28, 1999, p. 6A). The Times version changes my title from "Forbes Has Bold Vision" to "Why America needs 'President Forbes'" and deletes my paragraph on banning partial-birth abortions. The title change makes me sound like I'm endorsing Forbes, when I haven't reached that point; I've also written positive comments (although not quite so positive) about Gary Bauer and Dan Quayle, and on GrammNet, about George Bush, Jr. The paragraph deletion reduces part of the appeal to social conservatives. Thus I'm reproducing my column with the original title and partial-birth abortion paragraph below. I also keep my original paragraph breaks, but remove a few words deleted in the Times version. I based the column on a private interview I had with Forbes the night before the November elections, and wrote it some time ago, but seems if anything more timely now that Forbes has officially entered the race than it did when I first wrote it. Sincerely, David B. Levenstam, CPA, MT, MA GrammNet is an independent newsletter, not affiliated with Senator Gramm To subscribe to GrammNet, email me at AdmrlLocke@aol.com, with a message to the effect that you'd like to subscribe. ------------------------------- Forbes Has Bold Vision By David B. Levenstam, CPA, MT, MA When I met with Steve Forbes it became immediately apparent that unlike most candidates for political office he actually listens to people. It also was immediately obvious that Forbes is highly intelligent--possibly one of the most intelligent men ever to run for the presidency--and has an exceptional memory even for complex subjects. Yet Forbes seems to be almost painfully shy, an even more exceptional quality among political candidates. So far as I can tell, only a powerful belief in his bold vision for reform and renewal in America impels such a shy man to run for the presidency. What a vision it is. It's a vision of an America where the federal government doesn't confiscate a huge share of your income, only to let a little of it trickle back to you through the hands of federal bureaucrats if you follow their orders. It's an America where the federal government stops robbing you to pay for some stranger's retirement while claiming to be saving for your own. It's an America where entrepreneurs are free to take risks and create not only new companies and new jobs, but whole new industries to make our lives better, free from the fear that government will punish them. And it's an America where nobody kills children while they're being born. Forbes' vision for America will be achieved mostly not by government, but by you and your family. You'll be the ones to work, save, invest, direct your retirement funds, and take risks. Forbes recognizes that the best thing government can do is to protect your rights to life, liberty and property--and then get out of your way. To protect the right to life of children while they're being born, Forbes would sign a ban on partial birth abortions, which is supported by fourth- fifths of all Americans. That's the simple part. Getting government out of the way is more complex. Forbes would start by eliminating the current income tax code, a maze of rates, deductions, credits, double-taxation and special-interest provisions. Forbes would replace the federal tax maze with a simple two-tiered income tax. Thanks to generous exemptions ($19,000 single; $36,000 married), under Forbes' tax you'll pay no federal income tax at all if you have a low or lower-middle income. All income above the exemptions will be taxed at the same low rate of 17%. The more you make, the more you pay: if your income is $10,000 above the exemptions, you'll pay $1700; if it's $100,000 above the exemptions, you'll pay $17,000. But no longer will the government confiscate your income at progressively higher rates, punishing you for working, creating jobs and providing goods or services. Under Forbes' two-tiered tax, no matter how well you do you'll still have the incentive to do more, since the federal government will always leave you with 83% of each new dollar you earn. Forbes' vision for your retirement is, if anything, even bolder than his plan to reduce your tax burden. Currently the Social Security system takes 12.4% of your income and puts it into a "trust fund" that's only an accounting fiction. It's fiction because the "trust fund" gives part of your money to current retirees and "invests" the rest in federal bonds, meaning that the government simply spends your "retirement funds" on current benefits and other government programs. Government saves nothing for your retirement; it simply hopes that it'll be able to pay your Social Security benefits by stealing money from the people working after you've retired. That's why most people under the age of 40 don't believe Social Security will be around for them. If you or I tried to set up a private system like Social Security, we'd be arrested for creating an illegal pyramid scheme. Forbes wants to end the federal Social Security pyramid scheme by doing what many other countries have done successfully: privatizing Social Security. Forbes would allow you to choose between continuing to hand 12.4% of your paycheck to the Feds, or investing the money yourself in your own private retirement account. Forbes recognizes that you know better than any federal bureaucrat what works best for you. As president Forbes would get government out of your way by ending its confiscation both of your hard-earned income and of your retirement savings. Hmm . . . maybe with a vision as intelligent and bold as the one Forbes has, that's not so complex after all.