Posted on 04/17/2012 5:28:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
"April is the cruelest month. . . ."--T. S. Eliot, The Waste Land
Ronald Reagan said it back in 1983: "Our federal tax system is, in short, utterly impossible, utterly unjust and completely counterproductive . . . (it) reeks with injustice and is fundamentally un-American . . . it has earned a rebellion, and it's time we rebelled."
But what politician today would speak so eloquently, and all too accurately, about the country's irrational, insufferable, infernal Internal Revenue Code? (Except maybe for purely ceremonial purposes during an election year.)
Those in Congress who have made distinguished careers sneaking tricky little passages into the tax code to favor the special interests they represent, or just hope to solicit for a campaign donation, aren't interested in undoing this elaborate trap for the average taxpayer.
Why would politicians seriously challenge a system that so richly rewards them for their expertise in an arcane specialty?
Lest we forget, and so many do, that this republic was born of a tax revolt -- indeed, a mounting succession of them that climaxed in the Spririt of '76. Gosh, maybe that's why they call it the Tea Party.
But we the people long ago lost touch with our Revolutionary, and still revolutionary, roots. We've become inured to the injustice, inefficiency and general incomprehensibility of an encyclopedic tax code that by now passeth all understanding.
A whole priesthood of CPAs has multiplied to translate this gnostic creed, with all its daunting commandments and special dispensations.
Most of us don't object to paying our taxes. Living in the United States of America is not only a blessing but a great bargain. What we object to, or should, is how hard, how complicated, how expensive and sometimes just how plain hopeless it is to try to figure out how much we owe.
Awash in a sea of paper, or rather an ocean of electronic impulses in this internetted age, the American taxpayer needs . . .
HELP!
But every sweeping new tax law Congress enacts -- always called a "reform" -- makes reform only more complicated and, if possible, more confusing. And makes the tax code longer. By now, it has grown as indecipherable as Hammurabi's. It might as well be on clay tablets.
Despite the perennial foofaraw in Washington about whether and how much to cut taxes, what really drives people nuts is the paperwork, the record keeping, the uncertainty.
Even if folks have an accountant, and by now an estimated 80 percent of us use a tax preparer, or at least some software, to figure out how much we owe, it's still a wearing process.
For the average American family, filling out a tax form has become like attacking a puzzle to which, often enough, there is no right answer. But we're all supposed to swear, on penalty of perjury, that we've done our best to find it.
What to do? Don't mend it, end it. Abolish the tax code and start all over. Think about it: Would anybody starting from scratch come up with a system so byzantine, so counterproductive, so insane as the one we're stuck with? Well, maybe Rube Goldberg.
So why not opt for a clean break with the past?
Yes, kill the monster. Drive it through. Abolish the Internal Revenue Code and begin anew.
Put this thing out of its misery and the taxpayer's. By a date certain. Say, December 31, 2013. The government would have until then to come up with a simpler, fairer substitute.
At this point, it would be easier to junk the U.S. tax code and start all over than to fix it, and certainly to understand it.
To rephrase a thought from Dr. Johnson, nothing so wonderfully concentrates the mind as the prospect of having to file your taxes by midnight tonight. Or get an extension and so succeed only in prolonging the pain.
First kill the Internal Revenue Code, and the way to create a simpler, fairer system might become clearer to all those politicians, bureaucrats and other unimaginative types who now say it just can't be done. But it can be.
There is no time like the present to abolish the Internal Revenue Code. Which is pretty much what I wrote on Tax Day in 2004 and 2006 and 2008 ... and just about every year since. And now have said so again on this Tax Day.
Never. never, never, never give up. Don't believe those who can always be counted on to do nothing about even the longest-running outrages. Just abolish the old tax code and the politicians in Washington would have to devise a new, better, simpler one. From scratch. They'll want to get paid, won't they?
I MEANT SHOULD NOT BE TAXES ON THEIR SUCCESS. Stupid mistake and I know I’ll get flamed for it.
This straw man “dustup” between “tax inclusive” and “tax exclusive” arose many years ago when the legislation was first introduced. It has been put to rest, except among those who refuse to understand economic language and concepts.
Here is what the FairTax web site FAQ has to say about it at
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=FAQs :
“I know the FairTax rate is 23 percent when compared to current income taxes. What will the rate of the sales tax be at the retail counter?
“30 percent. This issue is often confusing, so we explain more here.
“When income tax rates are quoted, economists call that a tax-inclusive quote: “I paid 23 percent last year.” For every $100 earned, $23 went to Uncle Sam. Or, “I had to make $130 to have $100 to spend.” That’s a 23-percent tax-inclusive rate.
“We choose to compare the FairTax to income taxes, quoting the rate the same way, because the FairTax replaces such taxes. That rate is 23 percent.
“Sales taxes, on the other hand, are generally quoted tax exclusive: “I bought a $77 shirt and had to pay that same $23 in sales tax.” This is a 30-percent sales tax. Or, “I spent a dollar, 77¢ for the product and 23¢ in tax.” This rate, when programmed into a point-of-purchase terminal, is 30 percent.
“Note that no matter which way it is quoted, the amount of tax is the same. Under an income tax rate of 23 percent, you have to earn $130 to spend $100.
“Spend that same $100 under a sales tax, you pay that same tax of $30, and the rate is quoted as 30 percent.
“Perhaps the biggest difference between the two is that under the income tax, controlling the amount of tax you pay is a complex nightmare. Under the FairTax, you may simply choose not to spend, or to spend less.”
By the way, the only FairTax idiots I know are those who reflexively reject the FairTax, without studying it. Or ask stupid questions or make dumb statements or make asinine accusations without studying it.
The issue is FReedom, Mr. K, FREEDOM!
We will never be a truly FRee people so long as we have an income tax and an IRS!
You are wrong, it is uniform.Thanks for the link, it exposes your lie.
Family of 4: One adult (single mom?) + 3 children - $5,302 annual
Family of 4: a couple (of what?)+ 2 children - $6960.00 annual
Since 1 adult plus 3 children or a couple plus 2 children is too much math for you I wouldn't expect you to be able to figure that that's a $1658.00 annual penalty for a single mom with 3 kids.
It taxes the purchaser! You need a basic refresher on the Fair Tax.Nope, sounds like you need an education on the Fairtax, not a refresher.
The law states the rate is 23% of the gross payments received.
Do purchasers receive payments?
There's nothing anywhere in the law about what the tax rate is for the consumer/purchaser...only the business.
Good grief, we really are retarded aren’t we?
The uniformity is by INDIVIDUAL and not by FAMILY!
“Even if folks have an accountant, and by now an estimated 80 percent of us use a tax preparer, or at least some software, to figure out how much we owe, it’s still a wearing process.”
The accountants use software to tackle the damn tax code too.
When your tax return is close to 9 lbs and you have to ship it in a box it is time for REFORM!
“It’s like asking a drug addict to give his stash to somebody else.
The tax code is the structural rot of our republic. Lobbyists of all stripes pay big-time to ensure it’s jiggered in their benefit.
The politicians aren’t about to kill their golden goose.”
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You are exactly right on all counts UNTIL WE the people take control of the politicians we will continue to suffer!
We will never again be a truly FREE people for so long as we continue to abide the Marxist inspired income tax and the IRS!
It also says that if you make RETAIL sales of NEW goods or services you are REQUIRED to collect the tax from the purchaser on every sale but I guess you ignored that part didn't you Louie!
The business is just a conduit and that is true whether or not the fairtax is in place!
For the benefit of someone else who may be reading this (not you Louie because I KNOW already that you are to stupid to ever understand it), A business has but ONE source of revenue and that is it's sales receipts. That being the case, EVERYTHING the business pays must, of necessity, come from that source! If you tax a business the tax can accrue to any one, or any possible combination of, only three places.
1. The tax is added into the final sales price of the good or service produced and passed on to the consumer hidden in price.
2. The tax reduces the wages and fringe benefits of the worker involved in the production process.
3. The tax reduces the R(eturn) O(n) I(nvestment) to the stockholders of the business.
There is literally no place else for them to accrue and in all cases they fall on individuals and NOT the business!
I'd go with the Steve Forbes no-loophole 17% flat-rate plan NOW and start a 2-3 year transition that at the end of the transition, we repeal the 16th Amendment and replace the income tax with FairTax.
bump and bookmark
bump and bookmark
The tax code is a weapon against the citizens.
Good grief, we really are retarded aren’t we?Were you saying something about retarded liar?The uniformity is by INDIVIDUAL and not by FAMILY!
It's a "FAMILY CONSUMPTION ALLOWANCE" and each "FAMILY" has 4 "INDIVIDUALS" dimwit.
The UNIFORM monthly rebate is applied to each adult and to each child as follows:
Adult 214
Child 76
http://www.fairtax.org/PDF/PrebateExplained2012.pdf
The above amounts are added for each adult and each child in the family.
The Rebate amounts are UNIFORMLY APPLIED to individuals and if individuals form a household then the uniform rebates are simply added.
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