41.   Taxes may have something to do with it.

42.   The cost of software to figure your tax bill this year has gone way down, in some cases to nothing, even if your taxes have not.

43.   The Connecticut taxes had even less impact on such plans than did the surcharges in New York, Blumenthal said.

44.   The kilowatt-hour tax also has other problems.

45.   The luxury tax has the potential to act as a salary cap.

46.   This means taxes will have to be raised, Social Security benefits drastically cut, or some combination of both.

47.   This almost certainly means that sooner or later taxes will have to be increased or retirement benefits reduced.

48.   To produce the same revenue as the present system, the flat tax would have to make the middle class pay more.

49.   Will the tax have a deterrent effect on cigarette smoking?

50.   Without reform, payroll taxes will ultimately have to be increased by about a third, benefits cut by about a third, or some smaller combination of both.