Posted on 06/09/2006 5:33:09 PM PDT by Man50D
Joseph Tomanelli
President of the New Jersey Republican Assembly
You can eliminate many of the illegal immigrants coming into the United States to work by focusing on the Tax Code. The present system is not designed to promote the greatness of The United States of America, the entrepreneurial spirit. It is designed to invite illegal aliens to sneak across our borders and not participate in paying for their freedom. America was founded on freedom to pursue wealth without interference from government, but the present tax code has allowed the superiority of our Nation to dwindle.
Pavlov, using dogs for experimentation concluded that behavior can be changed by the use of rewards and punishment. When you reward certain behavior you get more of it; when you punish certain behavior you get less of it; it is not rocket science. The present system of taxation rewards failure and punishes achievement, so how can we expect to solve basic social problems like poverty and illegal immigration? The entire U. S. Tax Code is based on Karl Marx’ Communist Manifesto, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” Through the tax code our legislators have been marching our nation towards communism. There is not one communist country on the face of the earth that can even feed its own people, so why are we heading towards communism?
Acknowledging that our immigration policy has failed and that there are already millions of illegal aliens in our country, the Congress that has failed at everything it has tried, set off on a mission to provide a pathway for millions of illegal immigrants to become “legal.” Just as you can predict the sun to rise, you can predict that taxes will come up in the debates. The concern of Congress is; “How do we keep the “status quo” while appearing tough on illegal immigration?” So the latest scheme seems to be to slap the illegal immigrants with a fine that they cannot pay. Then force them to file and pay back taxes for the time they were here illegally, which they cannot do for lack of records. How can so many stupid people ascend to Congress? Based on the lunacy of the tax code conceived by Congress in a rubber room (they must vote by pushing a button because they are not allowed any sharp objects), if these illegal aliens were to file back tax returns, they would probably be entitled to large refund checks under the Earned Income Tax Credit (EIC). Our tax code can actually be summed up as, “From each according to his honesty to each according to his dishonesty.”
The U. S. Tax Code is based on income reported; thus if it is not reported, it is not taxed. The incentive is to not report income. This creates the underground economy avoiding all or most income taxes and the honest working citizens must pick up a greater share of the cost of government. This underground economy is a magnet for illegal aliens. If you can kill the underground economy you can literally eliminate most of the illegal aliens sneaking into America to work.
The solution to kill the underground economy is the Fair Tax. This would replace the entire Income Tax Code with a National Sales Tax. Taxing income was prohibited under the Constitution until the 16th Amendment opened the floodgates. The Fair Tax would completely eliminate the IRS and Tax Season, making April 15 just another day.[i]
We have been like sheep going to the slaughter complying with the tax code. It is time to say “enough.” The Fair Tax would make that a reality. The time consuming rituals of saving receipts, documenting your contributions, tracking medical expenses, and maintaining auto expense logs would disappear. The burdens on businesses of filing literally hundreds of compliance forms to help the government bleed honest citizens and ignore the dishonest ones would be eliminated. Punishing only honest, legal residents is a disgrace and must be ended. It consumes the valuable time of our rightful residents and their time could be more productive in value-added pursuits, raising better children, building stronger families, and volunteering to build better communities.
You will hear demagoguery surface about “how the poor will be hurt the most” and if you believe that without knowing the facts, you have what it takes to run for Congress. You can get a complete summary of the Fair Tax on http://www.fairtax.org/. What will actually happen is you will kill the underground economy, making the illegal immigrants, tax cheats, and those earning income from illegal activities (drug dealers, prostitutes, and organized crime) pay their share of the cost of running the country. It would immediately make our tax base global by forcing the purchasers of foreign goods in the United States to contribute the same as the purchasers of our own goods, allowing American industry to have a level playing field with the rest of the world and give our exports an immediate advantage. Perhaps our labor unions have been chanting the same lies so long that they actually believe them, but if they are not the first group to demand the Fair Tax, there is no hope for them. They have witnessed industry after industry fall to foreign countries. The clothing, textiles and hardware industries are practically extinct in the United States. The automobile, truck, heavy equipment, electronics, communication and technology industries are on the endangered species list. The dirty little secret is that tax preparation is so time consuming that accounting firms have already outsourced the tax preparation work to India and other off-shore locations. Soon when you call your Senator to complain you will be speaking to someone in India. The Fair Tax can level the playing field and can bring the jobs back, by establishing a policy of fairness and equality for all.
As Americans become angrier about the loss of our industries and jobs they will eventually stumble upon the truth and focus their anger in the right direction. Don’t blame illegal aliens or corporate greed; it’s the Tax Code, Stupid!
# # #
Joseph Tomanelli is a CPA from Mahwah, NJ. He is a member of the New Jersey Society of CPAs, the American Institute of CPAs, and the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners. He is President and Co-founder of the New Jersey Republican Assembly (http://www.nj-ra.org/). He has earned a BS degree from Ramapo College, and an MS degree from New Jersey Institute of Technology.
Fair Tax Ping!
One mind at a time! We are winning this battle!
Grab them Congress Critters one a time, soon yah got enough to do some real cook'n ;o)
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 federal income, SS/Medicare payroll, and gift/estate taxes outright replacing 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:
bttt
Illegal aliens are already not complying with our tax system; my assumption is that many of them will illegally register for the "prebate", which would likely more than cancel out whatever Fair Tax they might be assessed on their purchases.
It just keeps getting bigger.
It's time for the FairTax!!!
or a good day for fishing :O)
http://www.geocities.com/cmcofer/ftax.html
http://linder.house.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Resources.Home&Resource_id=1
I know a lot of CPA's who are in favor of this tax. They make all of their money off of accounting anyway.
They aren't organized if that's what you mean.
I hadn't thought of this angle. The Fair Tax would reduce or eliminate the cost differential that makes illegal labor so attractive, by eliminating the need for with-holding.
Short answer: all goods and services that are not considered business to business transactions are to be taxed once and only once to the end user.
A person building his own home can purchase materials at a supply store and pay the tax, or can find a demolition site and purchase materials without the tax.
A person building his own home and hiring subs would pay tax on the subs' fees.
A builder would pay no taxes to subs or to suppliers but would collect the tax on the final sale of the home whether he built it pre-sold or not.
Anyone else feel free to correct me or embellish.
A. Homeowner builds house, buys materials at cost at lumberyard. Homeowner frames his house, but hires subcontractors to do plumbing, mechanical, electrical, roofing, etc.
Homeowner doing his own work, buying materials pays the NRST due.
Subcontractors collect the NRST due for services provided and materials they use in providing those services to the homeowner.
Homeowner subsequently sells home as "used" per the language of the legislation, which defines "used" as NRST having been paid.
B. Builder builds house on speculation, buys materials. Resells house for profit when house is completed.
If Builder is homeowner A applies, taxes are paid on materials and services in building the home . NRST was collected as in initial acquisition of the house when new, any additions to the value NRST was paid in paying for materials and services.
If Builder is a business, qualifying for tax exemption in purchasing services and materials and conversion credits on personal properties that are converted to business use (i.e. sale for a business purpose (e.g. making a profit).) Sold by business full NRST is collected from next purchaser of the home.
Builder builds presold house, marks up materials and subcontractor labor for his 15% profit.
Same as A & B. NRST is collected on materials and subcontractor labor where owner is not a business.
If Builder is a business exempt from NRST on subcontractor labor and materials, full NRST is collected on sale of the home, builder receives business use credits for the portion that represents conversion of a nonbusiness personal property to business use.
The concept of profit in the scenario is irrelevant as it is the purchase that is taxed and due from the purchaser, not income of the owner/seller that is the subject of the tax.
In FL, we have a document issued by the State called a 'Blanket Resale Certificate'- or Blanket Card for short. If you are in business, (you have a business license), you can get a blanket card. You produce a copy of this document to your suppliers, and they waive the sales tax.
IF YOU ARE A SUPPLIER AND YOU SELL SOMETHING TO SOMEBODY, AND YOU DO NOT HAVE A BLANKET CARD FOR THAT PERSON ON FILE, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING THE TAX TO THE STATE FOR THOSE ITEMS.
Florida is hard-core about this. If you get audited, and eventually you will, they'll go through all your blanket cards and your sold receipts. If they find that you have not remitted sales tax due, they make you pay it. Even if the person you sold to has a blanket card and you don't have a copy of it, they can make you pay- but usually they give you a couple of days to obtain the copy, unless you're just an a$$ and they feel like whacking you.
This process separates business-to-business transactions from retail transactions. There is one exception- contractors. Work done on real property (not cars, boats, etc.) is not taxed at the retail level. Contractors pay sales tax when buying from their supplier, and they do not collect and remit tax from the end user. This is just a quirk with FL, but it keeps the construction industry booming.
The FairTax might work somewhat like this.
Having said all that, I would rather live with that system, where only business sales are open to review, rather than a system where personal income is.
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