Wayne Allyn Root writes in his June 9 Newsmax column:
Finally, Obama purposely leaves out the important fact that only in the last 30 years have we moved away from a cash economy. Tax rates at 70 percent or higher didn’t matter prior to 1980 because most small businesses earned unreported cash. Today we have a computerized economy based on credit cards.
Virtually every dollar that every business takes in is tracked and reported. So tax rates are immaterial — all of us are paying more in taxes than ever before. To not report that difference is deceptive.
Is Root saying it was OK for business to cheat on their taxes by not reporting cash income? That’s not exactly the behavior of an ethical businessman, particularly one with presidential aspirations (Root was the 2008 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee and proclaims himself to be “the leading contender for the 2012 Libertarian Presidential nomination”).