[ancient_geezer]

It's that time of year again.

Thomas Hobbes from Leviathan

• It is fairer to tax people on what they extract from the economy, as roughly measured by their consumption, than to tax them on what they produce for the economy, as roughly measured by their income.

[ancient_geezer]

Ping.

[unixfox]

This is OUR government and we have let them drag us down this rotten road. It's funny how our elected lawmakers cobble up laws that are so hard to understand that not even they know how to interpret them.

Then they expect us to praise them like heroes when they have a so called soulution to THEIR own doings?

Pffffttttt....

[DustyMoment]

Isn't it ironic that the former Soviet Union figured out how to develop a simple flat tax that citizens can file on a postcard, but the United States, the world leader in democracy, can't?

What does the former Soviet Union know that our elected representatives can't figure out?

[The Great RJ]

The reason for the complexity is that Congress insists on using the tax code for social engineering and vote getting.

Take Clinton's much vaunted college education tax deduction--you get nothing for the first year your kid is in school because of the way the law was written. In subsequent years you get a paltry deduction that hardly makes up for the dependent tax credit you lose when your kid turns 17.

Every year when I do my taxes (by computer program)my blood pressure goes up when I see all the special interest tax credits handed out to various groups, but not accessible to the average Joe.

[neutrino]

Good post. I often wonder how much economic activity is never begun because the code is so daunting.

[upcountryhorseman]

In line with this quote, Isn't it time to scrap the progressive income tax and just have a federal consumption
tax and nothing else? After Bush is re-elected, this is
something he could push to enhance his standing with conservatives.

[jrhepfer]

I am interested the concept of a Federal Sales Tax replacing the income tax and am gathering opinions and facts as time goes along. As I see it, a Federal Sales Tax would have exceptions for foods, clothing items to a certain price (I think New York does this already) and medical treatment/supplies.

In my mind, this would allow us to have more of a choice in how much we pay in taxes. I can make my salary, save as much as I want, be frugal and drive used cars and pay very little in taxes. Whereas someone making half my salary who chooses to go into debt, wear designer clothes and drive new cars chooses to pay more in taxes. The "poor" would have exemptions in that the necessities are not taxed at all (should they be modest in their expenditures).

This way, the amount of taxation is based upon personal choice. Just like I choose to own a full-size truck which means I also choose to purchase more gasoline for it and hence pay more in taxes factored into the fuel costs.

Please feel free to share your ideas!

Regards,

Jim

[Mr. Jeeves]

If Congress cannot get the federal income tax code straightened out and pretty soon, it will die from its own weight...

No it won't. Congress likes it the way it is, because...

"Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We WANT them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted -- and you create a nation of law-breakers -- and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system Mr. Rearden, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with." -- Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

The tax code is the primary way the political class has of ruling the entrepreneurial class. Without it, Bill Gates would rule America, and the Kerrys and Kennedys would be relegated to sitting on the front porch in Martha's Vineyard, complaining about the weather making their arthritis act up.

[krb]

What do you think?

I am all for what this guy says, except for this part:

and without regard to the obvious inequity of its likely substitute, an arbitrary flat tax.

There is nothing arbitrary about a flat tax. We set a rate for everyone to pay that give the government the money it needs to pay its bills.

In contrast, what we have now is quite arbritray.

[Elric@Melnibone]

Don't blame the I.R.S. It is stuck trying to figure out what Congress has given them and it is no more omniscient than the rest of us in trying to figure out what all those words mean.

To quote Colonel Sherman T. Potter: "Horse pucky!"

I have a friend who works for the IRS and he says the same thing: "Don't blame the IRS, we didn't pass the laws".

No, they just wrote the bills, lobbied for the laws and get to interpret them according to their own interests.

If ever there was a closed system, this is it.

[Doe Eyes]

If you live overseas, you would pay no taxes on US income. Good deal for the expats.