Making Reagan Proud

Here are some of the better responses on taxes from tonight's debate (via Americans for Tax Reform):

Huckabee was (surprisingly) the most ambitious: "[T]inkering . . . doesn’t work. I would work for the fair tax, which meets the four criteria: Flatter, fairer, finite, and family-friendly. We’d get rid of the IRS. We’d get rid of all capital gains, income, corporate, and we’d have a consumption tax. The fair tax proposal I believe offers the best opportunity for all levels of Americans."

Tommy Thompson (who was otherwise unimpressive) also advocated a "flat tax," while McCain promised a "simple, flatter, fairer tax so that Americans don’t have to spend $140 billion as they just did last April to prepare their tax returns."

Romney proposed an end to taxing "interest, dividends, or capital gains," and Tancredo (finally) came alive by zinging his colleagues: "You can veto all the spending bills you want, you will not touch the deficit until you actually deal with the structural problem of mandatory spending. That’s where all the money is. You can veto every one of the bills that come to you as discretionary funding, including the military if you want. It, is in, fact mandatory spending that has to be dealt with."

Update (5/8): Here's the full transcript.

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