Posted on 01/24/2006 7:57:02 AM PST by phil_will1
Executive Summary In 2005, taxpayers will pay roughly $1.2 trillion in federal income taxes. But America’s tax burden is more than just the amount of tax paid. It also includes the cost of complying with federal taxes, including tax planning, paperwork and other hassles caused by tax complexity.
In the last century the cost of tax compliance has grown tremendously. This is due partly to the inherent difficulty of taxing income, but also because of growing non-economic demands lawmakers place on the tax code. As Congress debates the tax reform recommendations of the President’s Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform, Members should address this growing compliance burden, and work to reduce it through tax simplification and reform.
In 2005 individuals, businesses and nonprofits will spend an estimated 6 billion hours complying with the federal income tax code, with an estimated compliance cost of over $265.1 billion. This amounts to imposing a 22-cent tax compliance surcharge for every dollar the income tax system collects. Projections show that by 2015 the compliance cost will grow to $482.7 billion.
The burden of tax compliance does not fall evenly on taxpayers. It varies by type of taxpayer, income level and state. In 2005, businesses will bear the majority of tax compliance costs, totaling nearly $148 billion or 56 percent of total compliance costs. Compliance costs for individuals will be $111 billion or 42 percent, and non-profits will bear nearly $7 billion or 2.5 percent of the total.
When examined by income level, compliance cost is found to be highly regressive, taking a larger toll on low-income taxpayers as a percentage of income than high-income taxpayers. On the low end, taxpayers with adjusted gross income (AGI) under $20,000 incur a compliance cost equal to 5.9 percent of income while the compliance cost incurred by taxpayers with AGI over $200,000 amounts to just 0.5 percent of income.
thanks! I will bookmark.
Tax reform ping
Another reason for a national sales tax.
We will never again be a free people so long as we have an income tax and the IRS!
source...the movement for consumption-based taxation has been hijacked by a group of extremists whose principal interest is abolishing the Internal Revenue Service.21 They believe that if virtually all federal taxes are abolished and replaced with a retail sales tax like those in the states, then the states can simply collect the federal government's revenue for it, thereby allowing for abolition of the IRS...
21 The Church of Scientology originated this legislation as part of a campaign against the IRS because it refused for many years to allow gifts to the church to be deducted as legitimate charitable contributions, on the grounds that it was not a true church. The IRS eventually relented. See Davis (1997) and Starobin (1995) for discussions of the Church of Scientology's role in the sales tax campaign.
Davis, Bob. 1997. "CATS Out of the Bag." World, 12:9 (May 31/June 7).
Starobin, Paul. 1995. "No Returns." National Journal (March 18): 666-671.
Writing science fiction for about a penny a word is no way to make a living. If you really want to make a million, the quickest way is to start your own religion.
~ L. Ron Hubbard
What happened to your schtick about the sales tax being a truly despicable proposal that would create a caste system, blah, blah, blah????
Couldn't get anyone to buy into that one, huh?
PS: How is your proposal to replace corporate income taxes with import tariffs coming? Have a bill number yet?
Good grief, Willie Gee ... you've been trying to push this lie that has nothing to do with the FairTax for what seems like years now and had no takers.
Most people realize it is not true - but apparently you aren't "alert" enough to see that.
If anyone would like to be added to this ping list let me know.
John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright and replace them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.
H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.Refer for additional information:
BUMP!
Most people realize it is not true - but apparently you aren't "alert" enough to see that.
Even worse, of course, is the fact that government should not even be in the business of determinining what is a religion and what is not. Just one more nail to add to the IRS/Income tax system coffin.
The exercise of such power has led to the absurdity of silencing the churches in violation of the 1st amendment rights guaranteeing freedom of religious expression, as well as free speech.
That last paragraph implies a compliance cost of $1,000 for the below-$20K group and the same $1,000 for the above-$200K group.
That doesn't seem right. How can the compliance cost of a 1040EZ compare with a 1040 long-form ? That $200K+ group would likely be riddled with tax shelters, small business income, etc.
I suspect the numbers would be different if the $200K+ group was broken down. The average must be skewed by the really high incomes that require 'only' a few tens of thousands of dollars in compliance, and constitute 0.01% of the income involved.
Willie, Willie, Willie......
Really son......get a new horse....this one is dead.
Every dog has one flea he can't reach.
"Really son......get a new horse....this one is dead."
Oh, he will. He shifts his attack periodically when he (belatedly) realizes that the one he is using is going nowhere.
Conspicuously absent from his remark is any comment on the substance and subject of the thread.
One word for his kind: imbecile
I can think of a few others....but they're not fit to post....;-)!
YESSIR!
For the life of me, I have not been able to understand why each and every church and minister has not jumped on the FairTax bandwagon.
Mystifying.
This is "conventional wisdom," and since it is based on Treasury Department figures, is waaaaaaaaaaaay low.
The real cost to the US economy of the progressive income tax system is much, much higher. I have seen credible estimates that seem to verify that for each dollar of income taxes collected, the real cost to the US economy is one dollar (does not include Social Security, Medicare or excise taxes).
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