‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’

One of the most enduring lessons from the Obamacare fiasco, is that to win a political battle it is best to keep the message simple. If there are too many moving parts to a plan, if Americans don’t understand what the politicians are doing, or if there are parts of a bill they don’t like, it probably will go down in flames.

Most people don’t like Obamacare, but when they couldn’t understand the Republican alternative, they chose the devil they knew versus the devil they didn’t.
Which brings us to the tax cut fight. Larry Kudlow, Steve Forbes and I (founders of the Committee to Unleash Prosperity) have been pleading with Congress to keep the debate focused on three simple reforms:

1) cut tax rates for large and small businesses to 15 percent to make America competitive and create jobs.

2) repatriate $2.5 trillion of money held by American companies back to the United States at a 10 percent tax rate.

3) double the standard deduction for every family and individual tax filer.

And that’s it. Hard stop. No border tax. No carbon tax. No surtax on rich people. No end of popular tax deductions. You can’t get the tax base broadened without a single Democratic vote helping you do it, so don’t try to roll this boulder up the hill.