Posted on 04/02/2006 3:10:12 PM PDT by Eaglewatcher
With millions of Americans once again struggling to complete their federal income taxes, it is a good time to reflect on the profoundly dysfunctional and highly punitive federal tax code that only gets more complicated year after year.
The patchwork quilt of tax loopholes, exclusions, adjustments and various forms and schedules that we all struggle to understand is a reflection of the wholesale auctioning-off of the tax code over the last several decades at the hands of an army of powerful, well-heeled lobbyists. The hallway in front of the tax code-writing House Ways and Means Committee where they practice their lavishly compensated trade has even been dubbed ''Gucci Gulch'' in recognition of the $1,000 shoes worn by many lobbyists.
Tax policy is big business in Washington. Members of the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee and their staff are routinely paid signing bonuses of $1 million and more when they join powerful Washington lobbying firms. Recent revelations about the clout of some Washington lobbyists pale in comparison to the real and hidden influence of tax lobbyists on both citizens' responsibilities to the national government and the nation's economic well-being. It is little wonder that these staffers and their bosses so passionately object to efforts to win fundamental reforms.
Unfortunately, Americans have learned to fear ''tax simplification'' because the tax code always gets more complicated in the lobbyists' hands. The code is so complex that even the Internal Revenue Service fails about half of the time to accurately answer taxpayers' questions, and even H&R Block has been fined for getting its own taxes wrong.
This complexity gives rise to another staggering $265 billion a year in tax compliance costs by legions of frustrated citizens and busy auditors, tax preparers, lawyers and corporate compliance specialists. Compliance costs alone represent a greater sum than the combined annual revenues of Sears, Walt Disney, Microsoft, Rite Aid and McDonald's. That honest citizens must spend so much time and money to comply with a federal law is an indignity that seems lost on many critics of a national sales tax.
As the founder of a national campaign to replace the income tax with a transparent, simple and non-regressive national sales tax, I have seen firsthand the lengths that both elected officials and the entourage fed will go to defend their turf. In recent deliberations by the President's Advisory Panel on Tax Reform, for example, millions of dollars of top-level research by recognized economists supporting the FairTax proposal was simply swept under the rug. The panel was charged with suggesting fundamental reform but failed to deliver under the leadership of two former U.S. senators -- both of whom work in firms lobbying the tax code.
When we began our work at FairTax.Org, we naively thought our common-sense proposal of a national sales tax that eliminates the IRS, un-taxes the poor, favors American producers and is simple enough to be understood by a child would be welcomed by our elected officials. To date, more than 55 courageous members of the Congress agree. But, we have now come to understand that nothing less than a national roar of citizen condemnation will force reform.
Once upon a time our tax policy may have been intended to spur growth in segments of the economy while fairly funding the government. Today it is simply a lucrative Washington business that specializes in shearing taxpaying sheep while rewarding those wealthy enough to buy into the corrupt auction of taxpayers' wealth. This assault on taxpayers and the nation's best interests cries out for fundamental reform.
Leo Linbeck is chairman of Americans for Fair Taxation, a national organization seeking replacement of the income tax with a non-regressive sales tax.
BTTT
I'm convinced this will never happen in my lifetime...and I ain't that old.
Crank up the pinger...
The tax code gets more and more complicated, more Americans are snared by the AMT, and what happens? Republicans bloviate about it every year, and the tax-preparer industry continues to grow.
How long have they been in power now? Has our tax system gotten any less complicated or expensive during that time?
What makes you think Republicans will ever do a damn thing about anything they promised to do?
Why it would be chaos...anarchy....cats and dogs living together...real Wrath Of God type stuff!
You heartless sob you.
L
NO WAY!
A sales tax makes every person conducting a transaction a tax collector. NO THANK YOU.
What about service transactions? Will then continue to be exempt?
What about food?
What about medicine?
Will some things be taxed more? (remember the yatch tax debacle?)
A national sales tax a no brainer NO NO.
It'll also encourage off-the-books bartering, which I wholeheartedly encourage, because it'll help strangle the immense flow of money to government, which is the only way we'll ever slow the massive spending increases imposed by the Republicans in charge.
Strangle the bastards!
"What do you mean, those a$$4oles want to take 28% of this transaction?"
Strangle the bastards!
I agree. I first heard of, and became a proponent of, the national sales tax in 1992. While a lot has changed since then, I believe there are too many congressmen getting sweet trips overseas from lobbyists looking for them to support tax breaks.
The congressmen have to have the tax code to monkey around with so they can continue to be powerful and more important than the rest of us.
Our present income tax code would be an embarrassment to the most backward nation on this planet; that a great country such as ours would create and enforce such a system is beyond belief.
A simple national retail sales tax (NRST) would make much more sense. While I imagine it too will soon become the plaything of the lobbyists, at least each of the impacts will be relatively clear each time you make a purchase.
I am no great fan of the FairTax since I don't like the prebate, but since that is the strongest NRST proposal, I do support it.
In most states, anyone making retail sales is already a retail sales collector. I don't think that the FairTax proposal adds any significant burden to such retailers, although it would impact some retailers in the five (I believe) states that do not currently collect a retail sales tax.
"Can you imagine the horrors which would occur if this country were suddenly burdened with thousands and thousands of unemployed tax attorneys and H & R Block employees?"
It's about time they got Real Jobs! LOL
A consumption tax might mean we'd actually collect revenue from illegal aliens. We should also tax any money being wired out of this country.
In the end, it all boils down to the power the current system allows politicians over us, the serfs.
Things will never change.
>>>"And of course, here's Eaglewatcher posting another pointless Op-Ed or Letter to the Editor or some other POS from the FairTax crowd"<<<<
What is Your Plan, Your Solution?
All you say is NO NO NO like a three year old, so I guess the IRS and the Income Tax is the cart that you wish to be hitched to.
Count me in the FairTax crowd.
TT
I see one big advantage to the National Sales Tax in capturing the income of ALL peoples in the US, whether legal or illegal. This will do a lot to asuage those who claim the illegals are not paying their way. The downside would be that the NRST would send money to DC, rather than to the city/county who pays for the schools/hospitals that are being burdoned.
Sorry, I missed this portion. Yes, retail service transactions would be taxable under the FairTax, so that would be a greater burden in those states that do not currently tax retail services.
What about food? What about medicine?
Yes, food and medicine that are sold as retail items would certainly be taxable under the FairTax.
Will some things be taxed more? (remember the yatch tax debacle?
Not under the current version of the FairTax, but it is my belief that it would not take long for the FairTax to have its own long list of exemptions and differential tax rates for different items. (You can see this already in various state tax codes where for instance, staple food items might not be taxable in one state, or there might be a cap on sales tax collected for any one sale in another state.)
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