If you want to design from scratch a tax system that makes sense practically and philosophically, you could hardly do better than the one Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal proposed this week as part of his presidential campaign.

I spoke to him about his plan in a one-on-one interview Thursday night. Jindal’s tax-reform proposal is well worth close consideration. Two elements in particular — just two parts of an impressively detailed, comprehensive approach — are extremely bold and absolutely right on target. First, he wants to completely eliminate the corporate income tax; second, his plan would require all working Americans to pay at least a 2 percent income tax, rather than allowing some 45 percent of Americans to escape income-tax payments altogether, as is now the case.

The elimination of the corporate tax (for which I’ve been a longtime advocate) would be, all at once, spectacularly pro-labor and pro-investment, and effectively a major ethics reform as well. And the broadening of the tax base to all workers, at a very, very low rate for those low on the income scale, would ensure that all Americans understand that government isn’t a freebie. As Jindal has explained repeatedly since he released his plan, such a reform would make sure that everybody “has skin in the game” rather than letting any able-bodied American be a freeloader.

Read the full article at National Review Online: Jindal’s Impressive Tax-Reform Plan Deserves Attention