Massachusetts News

February 28--Every registered Republican can vote at the caucuses to elect delegates to the Republican National Convention, says Cambridge Republican David Trumbull who is heading a grassroots effort to send flat tax activists to the Convention.

Although the Republican State Committee has not yet announced the date or locations of  the caucuses, past experience suggests that they will be held on a Saturday in April. 

This open process favors an ideological group, says Trumbull, who is Vice Chairman of the Massachusetts Republican Liberty Caucus, the local chapter of a national organization of small government, conservative -- even libertarian-leaning -- Republicans. 

"The establishment Republicans shy away from issues, but the grass roots strongly supports the flat tax. Under the caucus rules, if we get enough people to the caucuses, we just may succeed in electing a flat tax delegation," says Trumbull.

He says that the idea of a flat tax didn’t die with Steve Forbes' Presidential aspirations. "No GOP candidate is running on this potent issue," he notes. "That leaves it to the grassroots to push for the flat tax." 

His goal is to elect at least 20 delegates. If he succeeds, they will have enough votes within the Massachusetts delegation to put a flat tax person on the party platform committee. 

Delegates to the GOP National Convention will be selected at party caucuses throughout Massachusetts in each congressional district. Each district will send three delegates and three alternative delegates to the convention. Massachusetts has ten congressional districts, making for 30 delegates and 30 alternates. In addition seven at-large delegates and alternatives will be elected by the Massachusetts Republican State Committee. 

Trumbull says that Americans already support the principles of less government interference and equal treatment of all citizens. That’s why they support the flat tax. That's why the RLC is making the flat tax this year's major project. They believe that by adopting the flat tax, the GOP will appeal to people who are skeptical of more timid, incremental tax reforms being touted by Governor Bush and Senator McCain.

Don't Make The ‘Perfect’ The Enemy of The ‘Good’

Ironically, for some conservatives, it is the flat tax plan itself that is too timid, says Trumbull. More radical reformers would scrap the income tax entirely in favor of a consumption tax, such as a national sales tax. But such a plan to rid us of an inquisitorial IRS is unlikely to be achieved any time soon, Trumbull believes. Repealing the 16th Amendment that created the IRS requires two-thirds support in both house of Congress plus the approval of 38 state legislatures. That is the only way to drive the stake through the heart of the IRS. Short of that, a national sales tax would be an addition to, not a replacement for the income tax. 

The flat tax, of all reforms, enjoys the widest popular support and requires merely passage in the Congress and presidential assent. Trumbull says that is why the RLC pushes it instead of other, theoretically attractive but difficult to achieve, alternatives. It would establish a single-rate national income tax XXXX so simple that the typical individual could file on a postcard-sized form.

The current Republican Party Platform calls for a "flatter, fairer, and simpler" tax system. But the Republican majority in Congress has not passed the flat tax bill that Dick Armey introduced in March 1999. Leading GOP candidates Bush and McCain, though not officially opposed to the flat tax, have failed to voice support. In fact, both men have put forth tax cut plans, says Trumbull, that would preserve much of the current Byzantine federal tax code with multiple rates and numerous loopholes and special tax breaks. 

The RLC believes that the grassroots must push the candidates and the Congress. That is why they have an organization in place in nearly every one of the ten Massachusetts congressional districts. The group has contacted conservative delegates to prior conventions, and has already received commitments from enough potential delegates to assure a majority if the RLC succeeds in electing all its backed candidates.

While the national Republican Liberty Caucus has been around for about a decade and boasts such conservative luminaries as Congressman Ron Paul on its board of advisors, the local chapter was only founded in 1997. Although this is the first statewide effort undertaken by the Massachusetts RLC, Trumbull is predicting success. He can be reached at e-mail address FlatTax2000@aol.com or by telephone at (617) 876-6004. More information can be found at http://members.aol.com/flattax2000.
 

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