Posted on 01/09/2023 6:18:48 PM PST by SeekAndFind
The final act of the Democrat majority on the House Ways and Means Committee was to make public several years of Donald Trump’s tax returns, which the Committee obtained after a prolonged legal battle. The tax returns confirmed that, despite being one of the richest people in America, Donald Trump paid very little in federal income tax. In fact, in at least one year he paid under a thousand dollars.
Trump’s success in minimizing his tax liability without ever being audited is surprising only to those who think IRS audits are mainly used to catch rich “tax cheats.” According to data released by the Syracuse University Transactional Records Clearinghouse, in 2022 lower-income taxpayers were five and half times more likely than millionaires and billionaires to be audited! This is because low-income taxpayers cannot afford to hire top-notch tax attorneys and accountants to help fight the IRS, so they are more likely to give in to the agency’s demands.
Despite claims of the Biden Administration and its Congressional allies, the $80 million in additional funds provided to the agency as a part of the misnamed “Inflation Reduction Act” will likely increase the tax agency’s targeting of low- and middle-income Americans.
Proponents of a flat tax or national sales tax argue that such a system would ensure millionaires and billionaires paid their “fair share” of taxes. Saying we must all pay our “fair share” of taxes assumes we have a moral obligation to the government that can only be fulfilled by turning over as much of our income as our so-called “public servants” demand. This is not the case. Individuals have a moral duty to support their families, and to support private charities if they wish. They do not have a moral duty to support the government.
Tax reform proponents also complain that the current tax code contains too many loopholes that cause economic distortions and inefficiencies. It is true that the current tax system promotes inefficiency, but this is caused by the income tax itself, not the loopholes. Conversely, loopholes actually promote economic efficiency by giving taxpayers the ability to spend more of their money the way they prefer, rather than allowing politicians to spend it. As economist Thomas DiLorenzo put it, “private individuals always spend their own money more efficiently than government bureaucrats do.”
Some have expressed concerns that the use of President Trump’s tax records as part of the Democrat and Deep State effort to discredit him sets a dangerous precedent that will lead to increased use of tax information as a political weapon. The sad fact is that ever since its creation, politicians have used the IRS as a tool for punishing political opponents. As an IRS agent told the head of conservative organization who was being audited after calling for the impeachment of then-President Bill Clinton, “What do you expect when you target the President?”
The major problem with the income tax, and the reason it must be eliminated, not merely “reformed,” is that it is rooted in the idea that the government has first claim on our income. This idea is incompatible with a free society. Furthermore, the income tax must also be repealed because the force of the IRS, along with the fraud of the Federal Reserve, is one of the two foundations of the welfare-warfare state that erodes our liberty and prosperity. The only way to avoid 1984 is to repeal 1913.
Hong Kong has a semi flat income tax with three brackets and very few deductions. You can do all your taxes on 1/2 a sheet of paper regardless if you a waitress in a restaurant or wealthy tycoon.
We actually paid more in taxes there than here but minded it less because system was so easy. You did not need an accountant or bookkeeper.
Yes!!! Repeal the 16th!!!
It is neither and has/had a purpose when it was inserted into the law.
Let’s say it loud and clear: Trump’s accountants did a wonderful job of minimizing his tax liability and maximizing their tax preparation fees while doing nothing illegal! And let’s say it even louder: President Trump has nothing to do with preparation of his tax returns!
There is no loophole. If lawmakers bake exemptions, deductions, etc. into the law , those are not loopholes. They are there by design., not some sorcerer’s witchcraft.
I’d rather have a sales tax and get rid of this annual tax filing we have to do.
I remember that they promised complete privacy for tax information when creating this tax and the IRS, before the states did it
OK Ron, get rid of it.
The way the democrats and government have been all over Trump trying their best to catch Donald Trump in a mis-step,I find it hard to believe he was never audited.
If the 16th Amendment were repealed it would only stop taxes on capital, i.e. rents, stocks, capital gain, interest, etc. You could still be taxed on wages and salaries, which is considered an excise tax and was constitutional before the 16th Amendment was passed. See Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Company.
The top 5% pay the lions share of taxes.
In 1980, the top 5% paid 37% of all federal income taxes. Today, the top 5% pay 63%.... Yet democrats and morons like ron paul think that isn’t enough.
The bottom 50% of all taxpayers pay less than 3% of all federal income taxes
That’s BS. Trump gets audited every year.
truth. the GOP house needs to get Biden’s out there too.
Good point.
Linda like “Fracking”.
Congressman Paul doesn’t go quite far enough!
Congress should vote to repeal the federal income tax and replace it with the FAIRtax - H.R.25!
Oh, and abolish the IRS in the process?
And, repeal the 16th Amendment as well!
If you hate the income tax and the IRS, go to http://www.bigsolution.org to find out how to help us make that happen.
We will never be a FRee country so long as we have an income tax and an IRS!
I would rather have an income tax and abolish property tax
I think it’s hilarious. The Anti-Trumpers wanted President Trump’s tax returns in their stockings for Christmas. Instead, they got a turd. ROTFL!!! Trump’s tax returns aren’t “wildly popular” among the RATS anymore. Heh heh heh.
Who writes the laws Rand?
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