It's Quiz Time: Who wrote this?

[Doremus]

Read this excerpt from a Nov. 29 op-ed in the Washington Times and see if you can figure out who wrote it. (No fair googling -- this is just for fun!)

The name of the author might surprise you --- it did me! If you don't know who wrote it, take a guess what party they belong to.

"Toward that end, here are a few ideas that will help more people share in the rewards of the modern economy:

* Middle-class flat tax: This is simple and fair: no middle-class family with an income of under $150,000 should ever pay an effective tax rate of more than 10 percent. If what they owe after calculating their taxes is more than 10 percent of their income, they won't have to pay a dime above 10 percent. If they owe less than 10 percent, they pay the lesser amount.

* Permanent capital-gains tax cuts: Long-term capital gains tax rates now are between 5 percent and 15 percent. The rates are progressive: People in or below the 15 percent personal income tax bracket (which applies to married couples making $60,000) get the lower capital-gains rate. We should lower the capital-gains tax even further for people making up to $100,000 a year, provided they hold the asset for up to five years. Thus your tax would be 4 percent if you hold the asset for three years, 3 percent if you hold it for five years. This sliding scale for taxing capital gains will encourage investment and increase savings for a majority of Americans.

* Cut corporate tax rates to 30 percent: America has one of the developed world's highest corporate tax rates. Let's change that by lowering the corporate tax rate from 35 to 30 percent -- with an even lower rate for new knowledge-based industries in energy technology, biotechnology and other science-rich sectors. We should follow House Ways and Means Chairman Charles Rangel's lead and cut the corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 30.5 percent."

All these proposals would be paid for by eliminating inefficient tax loopholes and wasteful corporate subsidies. We can also pay for it by modernizing the financing of Social Security and Medicare.

Good luck!

[Nailzberg]

1. Chairman Mao?

[regnaD kciN]

2. Harold ("Call me!") Ford, Jr.

Darling of the DLC.