New York CPAs propose flat tax

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Financial Week has a headline that says:

A tax reform plan not only accountants would love

It refers to a proposal by the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (the US equivalent of Chartered Accountants) for what they call a simple exact transparent tax (SET).

Now let's be blunt, the SET is a flat tax. As Financial Week says:

like other flat tax proposals, would tax all income at a single rate-no income brackets, no phase-out of deductions and no surtaxes.

And as Bob McIntyre of Citizens for Tax Justice said:

A flat tax, regardless of what tax code rationalizations might accompany it, favors the wealthy. With a flat tax, people currently taxed at the top rate win

And as in Bulgaria, the poorest lose.

Financial Week says its surprised that CPAs are calling for this:

The U.S. tax code is overly complicated and hard to comply with, but certified public accountants are perhaps the last people you'd expect to develop a fix for it.

I'm not. Too many in accountancy see their role to be increasing the wealth of the wealthiest in our society. After all, that is what wealth management is. And this is a marketing exercise that panders to that market. They know it won't work. They know it won't happen. But they're politically cynical enough to pander to their clients and ignore the ethics of their duty to society as a whole.

Which is why accountants cannot be trusted to act in the public interest.


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