--- title: Rand Paul Chainsaws Tax Code in Campaign Video description: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul promoted his campaign plan for a flat tax by literally chainsawing stacks of the U.S. tax code in a campaign video. canonical: https://time.com/3966731/rand-paul-chainsaw-tax-code-video/ author: Katy Osborn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-21T21:52:56.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:12.306Z article:section: Politics og:title: Watch Rand Paul Destroy the Tax Code With a Chainsaw og:description: “Hey, I'm Rand Paul, and I'm trying to kill the tax code." og:url: https://time.com/3966731/rand-paul-chainsaw-tax-code-video/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3c20731b1050e5/69885bd95f570fc6d0b1c8a7/rand-paul-chainsaw.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5118 og:image:height: 2879 og:image:alt: Rand Paul Chainsaw og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch Rand Paul Destroy the Tax Code With a Chainsaw twitter:description: “Hey, I'm Rand Paul, and I'm trying to kill the tax code." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b3c20731b1050e5/69885bd95f570fc6d0b1c8a7/rand-paul-chainsaw.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch Rand Paul Destroy the Tax Code With a Chainsaw > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jul 21, 2015 9:52 PM UTC  Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Rand Paul waits to speak at a campaign stop at the Craig Lang farm, Thursday, July 2, 2015, in Brooklyn, Iowa. Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Rand Paul waits to speak at a campaign stop at the Craig Lang farm, Thursday, July 2, 2015, in Brooklyn, Iowa. Charlie Neibergall—AP by [Katy Osborn](https://time.com/author/katy-osborn/) ## Katy Osborn Jul 21, 2015 9:52 PM UTC Sen. Rand Paul took a chainsaw to the tax code, literally. But even a slickly produced campaign video couldn’t cut through the frenzy over Donald Trump. The Kentucky Republican released an edgy video Tuesday called “How would you kill the tax code?” Sporting a black “Detroit Republican” T-shirt, Paul talks about creating a one-page tax form with a 14.5% flat tax and destroying “all 70,000 pages” of the U.S. tax code. Then, for dramatic effect, he sets stacks of paper on fire, shoves them in a wood-chipper and takes a chainsaw to them, while an electric guitar squeals the national anthem. But veiled references to the movie “Fargo” and Jimi Hendrix’s performance at Woodstock weren’t enough to turn the video into a viral triumph. For that, Trump, the Republican frontrunner, [simply gave out](http://time.com/3966564/lindsey-graham-trump-phone/) Sen. 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