Obama Doesn't Know the Difference Between 'Flat Tax' and 'Fair Tax'

Matt Lewis | October 16, 2008 9:45 AM

Townhall's Chris Field points out to me that it appears Barack Obama doesn't know the difference between the Flat Tax and the Fair Tax.

Everyone is talking about Joe The Plumber and the "spread the wealth" line, today, but if you watch his conversation with Obama, in full, it becomes clear that Barack Obama cannot distinguish between two major tax proposals of the last decade, or so.

During Joe the Plumber's conversation with Obama, the following exchange occurred (at about the 3:38 minute mark):

Joe the Plumber: It seems like you'd be welcome to the flat tax then?

Obama: You know, I'd be open to it, except here's the problem with the flat tax. ... If you actually put a flat tax together ... in order for it to work and replace all the revenue we've got, you'd probably have to make it like about a 40 percent sales tax.

Of course, the Flat Tax is a proposal in which every American would pay the same marginal tax rate. As such, it has nothing to do with a sales tax. To increase tax revenue, you'd simply raise the income percentage everyone pays. Conversely, the Fair Tax would replace all federal taxes with a single national

sales tax. In saying we would have to have a 40 percent sales tax (a notion in dispute, I might add), Obama was obviously talking about the Fair Tax -- not the Flat Tax.

Note: Don't just watch what the media is showing you. To fully grasp Obama's socialist tendencies, I challenge you to watch the entire Joe the Plumber conversation with Barack Obama.