Rand Paul takes a chainsaw to the tax code. Literally.

Rand Paul in a 2016 presidential campaign video

(Image credit: YouTube.com/Rand Paul)

published 21 July 2015

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is serious about killing America's long and complicated tax code. So serious, in fact, that he took a chainsaw, a woodchipper, and a flame to the lengthy document in a new political ad. "I'm trying to kill the tax code," Paul says. "All 70,000 pages of it."

After decimating all 70,000 pages, Paul proposes a "one-page tax code, a one-page tax return, [and a] flat tax at 14.5 percent." Paul is pushing for the flat tax as a fairer solution to the current tax system, in which "some rich people pay zero now," Paul later explained to reporters.

The Paul campaign is clearly hoping this new video will pique the interest of conservative voters. "If I'm not for cutting taxes, what do I have to offer them?" Paul said. "If I tell them I'm going to leave $5 million in their economy, that's not going to Washington, I think they can grasp that."