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| Feature: Running for Office |
The $60 Million Message
Elizabeth Harris
09/01/2006
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 Steve Forbes believes his money and time were both well spent in
his two presidential bids. His campaigns in the Republican presidential
primaries in 1996 and 2000, which were both centered around a promise to
simplify the federal tax code by adopting a flat income tax, were financed
largely by his personal contributions, totaling over $60 million. Forbes recalls
the most painful component of his campaign was the need to sell some of his
shares of his family’s business, Forbes magazine.
"That just underscored what the price of this was going to be," he says.
In 1996, Forbes won primaries in Delaware and Arizona, but in
2000, he failed to carry a state, finishing second in Iowa and third in
Delaware. His campaigns did give him a platform to promote his flat-tax scheme.
And, while the idea might be all but moribund in the U.S., it has growing
support abroad. Forbes continues to advocate it in speeches and in his 2005
book, Flat Tax
Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS. He points to adoption of a flat-tax rate in Russia, in 2001, as a
significant victory. "The message stuck, even if the messenger is now an
agitator instead of a candidate," he says.
 Back to Main Article: Running for Office
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