Giuliani on Flat Tax: Just Kidding

Rudy Giuliani, fresh off winning the endorsement of Steve Forbes, now says he was just kidding when he said he thought the flat tax was a good idea. "I didn't favor it, I said something academic," Giuliani said at a press conference in Florida on Saturday, in response to a reporter asking him why he had switched from opposing a flat tax to favoring it. "What I said was, and it was not a joke, but it was half-jocular, was if we didn't have an income tax...what would I favor? "First I would favor no tax," he said laughing and turning to his wife Judith, who duly smiled back. "That would be my first position. My second position would probably be a flat tax." But, he said, the tax "would probably not be feasible." Someone should tell Forbes. --Jason Horowitz