Ohio governor John Kasich, who may run for the Republican nomination for president, said he is in talks with publisher and conservative activist Steve Forbes to develop a flat tax reform proposal.
“I’m in conversation now with Steve Forbes on the flat tax,” Kasich said Friday afternoon at a lunch sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor.
While he cautioned he isn’t ready to endorse the proposal yet, Kasich said he is “fascinated” by the idea of a “flatter, simpler” tax. “The beauty of his plan is this,” he said. “You can have the plan I’m suggesting, which is flat, or you can take the traditional tax.”
“If you don’t like it, you can keep the current system,” Kasich said, adding that he also thinks the corporate tax rate is “too high.”
Kasich, who served in Congress from 1983 to 2001 and briefly ran for president in 1999, said he is considering a run in 2016 and is currently trying to determine if he has the “resources” to compete.
Texas senator Ted Cruz, who has already entered the presidential race, is proposing a flat tax, one whereby “every American can fill out their tax returns on a postcard,” as Cruz puts it.
Another presidential candidate, Florida senator Marco Rubio, has introduced a tax reform proposal with Utah senator Mike Lee that simplifies the code to two individual tax brackets and reforms tax credits and deductions.
