Something’s got to be done

Brent over at Weekend Pundit has a quick discussion about tax reform, citing Ed Feulner over at TownHall.  The money quote from Brent:

I like the story of one of NH’s senators Judd Gregg, who has special training beyond law school in tax law. Yet he can’t even do his own taxes, it’s just too complex

The original purpose of a tax is to  raise money for a given level of government.  With all of the additions and changes (with very few deletions) over the years, they are both right -> this is nothing more than a hodgepodge of rules to favor a given entity over another.  In short, it is the easiest and fastest way to manipulate the public into certain behaviors and to be used by companies against each other (or industries for that matter).  At the same time, it has provided braces and college educations to the offspring of those that benefit the most – tax accountants, lawyers, and lobbyists.

For the rest of us, it is either having to employ our own accountants and lawyers, sweating and uttering choice words before, on, and shortly after April 15th.  And given the rising cut of government taxes, perhaps fewer braces and lesser college education than if we were able to keep more of our hard earned money.

Here’s what should be done:

I was for Steve Forbes’s flat tax when he ran for President.  Summarized here, the salient points are:

• A flat rate of about 17%
• No tax paid, for a family of four, until an income threshold of $36,000
• Almost all other taxes and deductions disappear.
• The form is the size of a postcard.

Sounds good…but I like the FairTax from Congressman Linder and radio host Neal Boortz.  While the details can be found here, it can be summarized as:

The FairTax was created by first asking the American people what they wanted out of a tax system, and then having a team of respected economists design a tax system that met those demands.  The FairTax replaces the income tax and all other federal taxes with a national consumption tax. The FairTax is levied only once, at the point of purchase on new goods and services. The simplicity of the FairTax frees Americans from our current overwhelming tax code and unshackles the U.S. economy.

The FairTax:

• Rate is about 23%
• Abolishes the IRS
• Closes all tax loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
• Maintains our current Social Security and Medicare benefits
• Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
• Allows American products to compete fairly
• Reimburses the tax on purchases of basic necessities – a Prebate
• Enables retirees to keep their entire pension
• Enables workers to keep their entire paycheck

And no more April 15th to worry about. 

Take a look at your paycheck – LOOK at the gross, then look at the net.  Right now, the only way you can control how much you pay in taxes is to manage your income (generally, go lower, and who wants to do that!).  With this, you can control how much in taxes you pay by managing your spending.