David Swenson, research scientist, was interviewed this week by:
Ty Rushing, Iowa Starting Line, for the Jan. 12 story, "Economist: Reynolds’ ‘Flat Tax’ Benefits Rich, Puts Burden on Poor."
“You’re going to get a shifting of the tax burden away from the wealthy, towards the middle class and lower-income taxpayers as a consequence of this,” he said.
“With regard to fundamental tax principles, a flat tax is not a fair tax,” he said. “When we think in terms of what constitutes a fair tax, a fair tax—there are many criteria for them—but one of the criteria for a fair tax is that your tax liability increases as your ability to pay increases. That’s what we consider fairness in a conventional discussion. If the governor is proposing to lower the amount of revenues collected, then by extension, she is promising to lower the amount of government services provided.”
Swenson spoke about the governor’s State of the State income tax change recommendations with:
Ethan Stein, KCRG
Ty Rushing, Iowa Starting Line
Roger Rily, WHO
Daniel Perrault, KWWL
Mallory Smith, KCAU-TV, Jan. 13
Michael Crumb, Des Moines Business Record
David Pitt, Associated Press, Jan. 14