If you pass by the John Wilson Building on Pennsylvania Avenue, keep your eyes peeled for the electronic billboard that keeps a running tally of the amount D.C. residents pay in federal taxes.
Modeled after one on Dupont Circle that kept tabs on the number of rain forest acres turned to farmland, the digital display in front of the District’s city hall counts dollars.
Two days ago, on tax day, the sign read: $1,013,552,816. Politicians noted in a lather of news releases that D.C. residents had topped $1 billion in federal taxes.
“Denying nearly 600,000 Americans our fundamental right is unconscionable,” Council Chairman Vincent Gray said, “and Congress can end this injustice with the passage of the D.C. House Voting Rights Act without amendments.”
And:
“Taxation without representation is alive and well in the District of Columbia,” said Ilir Zherka, executive director of DC Vote, the group advocating for D.C. voting rights.
I prefer Sen. Everett Dirksen’s famous line:
“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.”
We seem to have arrived at a total standoff over the D.C. voting rights bill. The legislation that would give our delegate a vote on the House floor was sailing through. Gun rights advocates tacked on an amendment that would bar the District from regulating handguns.
D.C. pols have balked. What seemed like a done deal now appears to be dead meat.
Why not take a step away from the precipice and consider the alternative: We keep our taxes, Congress keeps its vote. Truth be told, D.C. now receives billions more in federal largesse than it gives in taxes, but we can still trade our taxes for the vote. The nation’s capital becomes a tax haven, much like Hong Kong.
The idea is neither new nor farfetched. Former congressman Jack Kemp has been advocating a “flat tax” for D.C. since 1997, when the capital flirted with bankruptcy and its finances were taken over by a federal control board.
When Congress failed to install a low-tax enterprise zone in D.C., Kemp called the move “stupid” and told an executive conference that the way to fix D.C. was to “let capitalism do its mighty work.”
What’s wrong with letting the “mighty work” begin now?
Imagine the effect on home values in D.C. if the feds let us institute a 15 percent flat tax. Businesses would locate in the capital, much as they are attracted to Delaware for its tax structure. K Street would be awash in Fortune 500 company headquarters.
There are downsides, of course. When Kemp floated his idea, Virginia politicians went berserk at the thought of seeing their wealthy residents flock to D.C. We would have to make sure the local government didn’t raise taxes tenfold. Affordable housing would have to be a right, not a market-driven option.
We keep our taxes. We get to regulate gun ownership. We could fund our schools and roads to the max. Seems like a win-win-win.
Why not?
