Posted on 12/20/2014 3:12:44 PM PST by smoothsailing
If they were FOR YEARS systematically spying on and harassing ordinary Americans for political reasons, WHY is their budget still $12 BILLION...?
That’s lavish.
As long as nobody goes to jail their budget should simply be cut in half.
Thanks for reappearing Congressman Linder!
Eliminate all income based taxation in favor of excise on retail purchases.
Works just like state and local sales taxes now.
No more withholding.
Cobb Galleria, August 1998?
1. 30,000 tax lobbyists--HALF the lobbyists in Washington, DC--fighting for every scrap of a tax loophole. And you get political corruption on a huge scale over this.
2. The result is a tax code over 75,000 pages long so complex that it makes James Joyce's Finnegans Wake almost easy to read in comparison. Even the IRS can't figure out much of the tax code!
3. The sheer complexity means exorbitant yearly compliance costs, estimated by some economists to soon approach US$500 BILLION per year (and climbing fast in each subsequent year, especially with the imposition of Obamacare mandates through the tax code).
4. It also encourages the outsourcing of millions of jobs, thousands of factories, and hundreds of corporate headquarters for tax avoidance reasons. Care to explain why Apple manufactures its products in China, and why Google has to used that highly-complex and expensive Double Irish with Dutch Sandwich accounting scheme to lower its tax bill?
5. It results in (by some estimates) around US$15 TRILLION in American-owned liquid assets sitting in offshore financial centers and other foreign banks for tax avoidance reasons (care to explain all those "banks" in the Cayman Islands, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, and so on? Or why Apple has 70% of its US$147 billion liquid asset reserve outside the USA?).
6. Government uses the tax code as a political instrument to favor or punish political constituencies as little as ONE taxpaying entity. The recent scandal using the IRS to target conservative 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups is clear proof of this.
7. Because the IRS needs to know intimate details of personal and business financial records in tax return filings, there are potentially serious issues with invasion of privacy. Care to explain why former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's private tax returns ended up in the offices of Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)?
8. The IRS assumes you're guilty of tax evasion, and you end up having less rights than most common criminals!
Complete economic and political insanity. It's time to phase out the income tax by repealing the 16th Amendment and replace it with something like FairTax.
The FairTax solves all of the above. It is a universal sales tax levied at the checkout counter on the purchase of new goods and services for personal use. There is no tax on used goods, since nothing should be taxed more than once. Under the FairTax there is no tax on business activity. There is no tax on personal income, corporate income, dividends or capital gains. No gift tax or estate tax. All are repealed and the IRS is abolished.
As MC Hammer said............”Can’t Post This” and I won’t.
We were there for the Tauzin/Armey “debate”. Actually, it was more like a thorough thrashing of Armey by Billy Tauzin.
I recall standing in the back of the room next to Armey’s staff guy when one of our guys asked Armey a pro Fair Tax question it took Armey a bit to answer. One of Armey’s flat tax supporters turned to the staffer and observed “That was a stupid question” to which Armey’s guy responded “Then why are we getting our ass kicked?”
It’s going on 17 years later and we STILL haven’t put down the rabid dog.
In terms of educational potential, this article is superlative.
The present IRS based tax collection system is shown to be egregiously wasteful, obscenely expensive, and as an agency is far too comfortable violating the Constitution guaranteed rights of Americans.
The article further shows in a few paragraphs why the Fair Tax can, will, and must be put in place if America is to once again become the world’s leading economic engine.
Yes, John, thanks for spearheading the effort to put down the rabid dog. And, while we hope you’re enjoying that retirement, thanks for rejoining the fray.
Didn’t seem to get much done while he was collecting taxpayer money for 18 years. Perhaps he can finally do something substantive, like give his pension back to the taxpayers.
They were given a raise
For many years, I have advocated the cessation of taxes deducted from paychecks. If for one year, everyone had to save to pay quarterly taxes,,,,EVERYONE,,,, there would be a tax revolt, and we could fix this unreasonable system. Ordinary people would finally become aware of what they are paying.
I have/had a lib friend. I asked him how much he made. His response was;
“I take home X.” I told him I didn’t care what he took home, but how much he was paid. He didn’t know! So I got him looking at that. I gave him a little notebook, and asked him to record the taxes on all his purchases. He freaked! He said; “JB! It’s almost 50%!” He and his wife have become staunch Conservatives! Constitutionalists! I won one small battle!
For decades now, I have had a checking account where I earned less than a dollar per year in interest, usually around 40 cents. The bank snail mails me three copies of a report of this interest every year, in addition to informing the IRS about my interest haul. Then I have to calculate my taxes, taking into account this huge interest income, which results in a tax of about one penny. And this is just one microscopic piece that is the whole IRS behemoth.
I especially love those who think that when they get a big tax refund check, that they’re pulling one over on the government.
Guess what? The government pulled one over on you, you gave them an interest-free loan. Suckers!
Nice words, but it will never happen.
the US government and both parties are all about doing whatever it takes to continue the progressive experiment we are in.
” love those who think that when they get a big tax refund check, that they’re pulling one over on the government.”
Oh gosh yes! They’re clueless!
But of course you already know this IS THE VERY REASON taxes, esp. income taxes, are paid they way they are.
A dumb populace is a compliant populace.
Putting the IRS “down” will never happen. Those in charge will kill anyone who seriously threatens their tax revenues.
Why a proponent of the fair tax would include this fact is beyond me.
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