To: FReepers; Everyone; All;
but the basic bedrock of the Internal Revenue Code isn’t at all complex.
***
Thus sayeth the accountant!!!
U.S. Tax Code is approaching 60,000 pages! Nobody including the IRS understands it. Almost as bad a ObamaCare.
Maybe we can come up with something better than 999, and we don't want a federal sales tax until the 16th amendment is repealed, but the rest of it's a lot better than 60K pages of gobbledygook.
An impressive analysis!
But watch out! Based on what I’ve been seeing today on other FR threads, anybody who voices the slightest criticism of Herman will probably be labeled a RINO mole, somebody who well may be taking orders from Karl Røve, Mark Steyn, Allahpundit and similar neo-con agents.
Well, I stopped reading after this point. Made it three sentences into the article.
Sure, I suppose the tax code isn't that complicated for the lower 50% who don't pay taxes. And its probably isn't all that complicated for people that don't have any deductions. But if you have almost any holdings you are stuck with a byzantine set of rules that takes tens of man-hours to navigate. And with a need to keep meticulous records in case the IRS comes a calling...
And it need not be that way. Just make a very simple process. No deductions is fine - we don't need the tax code to enhance social engineering exercises. I'm sure the tax lawyers of the world prefer the complex code - but I don't. Its a drag on productivity.
“I’ve worked with the tax law for 30 years, and I don’t think it’s all that complicated”
Obviously your lively hood is dependent on a complicated tax system so you can charge huge fees to deal with it. In other word, Cain and anyone else who wishes to replace the neo-marxist system with a simplified tax is a direct threat to your wallet.
I like both Bachman and Palin but their opportunities have been lost. I do not like Romney (the GOP favorite), Perry, or Huntsman (the DNC favorite). (Sorry, but) I loathe Ron Paul, cute and folksy as he may be.
Lord help me; I'm starting to really believe that Gingrich is the only adult, consistent, viable, one in the bunch.
The tax code is complicated to the American people, many of whom hire H&R Block to fill out their short forms for the IRS. Most are so mathematically-challenged they wouldn’t think of reading the forms and filling them out themselves.
Let's just summarily dismiss it all and get back to business as usual.
end sarcasm
Interesting. Lets say if everyone paid “their fair share” the total federal tax rate maybe 15% for both individuals and business or $.15 out of $1.00. With our code here’s what happen: a “special group” lobbies congress and get exception to their “fair share” and end up paying %.00 out of every $1.00. that mean the rest of the tax payers have to pick the slack through higher taxes. As more and more Special interest get their way with congress that means the rest of the taxes payers rate has to go up. Remember, the federal government still needs $.15 out of every $1.00 to operate. What I dislike about Cain’s 999 plan or his 909 it still hides the tax rate thought “paper work” hidden from the real tax payer, the end user of goods and srevices.
If Cain’s 9-9-9 plan puts H & R Block and tax ‘experts’ like you out of business, I will personally shine Mr. Cain’s shoes, wash his car, and cut his grass for FREE.
I see you’ve made a terrible mistake. You spent time and effort to do a detailed analysis, and it took more than one paragraph to explain.
Therefore, it was too long, so everybody ignored everything you wrote, found a sentence they could use to feel better about themselves, and responded as if they have something important to add to the conversation.
I don’t find tax law all that complicated (for the most part) either.
But it wouldn’t hurt to simplify it — there’s way too many things that have been thrown into it because politicians are involved. But throwing out the whole thing and replacing it with something new isn’t necessary to cure that problem.
“I’ve been in tax law for 30 years”.I stopped reading right there.
On which planet do you work?
When the name-calling starts in the headline, not much reason to read the article.
First, your presentation is misleading.
Yes it is true that Cain’s plan imposes a 9% tax on wages.
But we NOW have a 15.3% tax on wages (ignoring the temporary stimulus reduction). (You show ONLY the employer’s portion which shows up in his income statement)
The 15.3% (combined employee & employer share) must be paid to the government REGARDLESS of whether a business is profitable.
Similarly, because the 9% is not deductible all or most of this must be paid regardless of whether the business is profitable (unless a business is so unprofitable that there is still a loss even after adding back wages).
So we have a REDUCTION in taxes on wages under the Cain plan from 15.3% to 9% (or less).
You are comparing the 9% tax on wages under Cain’s plan with the corporate income tax. But it is more meaningful conceptually to compare it with the 15.3% tax on wages we have now, which goes away, resulting in a TAX REDUCTION ON WAGES.
By ignoring the share the employee must pay of the SS/Medicare tax, which goes away under the Cain plan, your presentation is misleading.
Second, by shifting part of the federal tax burden from an income tax to a sales tax, Cain’s plan makes domestic production more competitive.
As it stands now, domestic producers pay the burden of paying income tax but foreign producers do not.
By shifting this to a sales tax, foreign goods bear part of the tax burden making the playing field a little more level for domestic production and improving the environment for JOB CREATION in the United States.
You seem to be under the impression the main point of 9-9-9 is to reduce some people’s taxes or to save compliance costs. The MAIN point of 9-9-9 is domestic JOB CREATION. It is intended to be revenue neutral, so some people’s taxes will go down, others go up, but the most important goal is to change the environment to encourage domestic production here in the USA.
And third, the next step after 9-9-9 is to move to only a sales tax, which DOES eliminate the calculation and reporting of income taxes, saving us the huge compliance costs businesses and individuals have to pay under the current code.
This statement is beyond laughable. When I stop by my accountant's office I can see the many volumes (at least 15) of IRS code and other IRS regulations all printed in small type.
My accountant says that without computer programs, it would be impossible to do tax filings. The entire IRS code is insanity on display.
You are the scam artist.
It’s obvious you rather have a communist progressive tax system that you and your buddies make money off of.... However, Herman Cain’s plan is good for the country and most Americans.
The Tax plan you are defending is killing our economy. All for what... your back pocket?
Sorry Pal I’m with America and with Herman Cain. I’m not with you communist progressive scam.
Your charts are all wrong Mr. Tax Attorney. Yeah right!
For instance, have you ever heard of embedded taxes? How can you factor the exact same expenses after 999??? Duh!
NaturalBornConservative my a$$....
More like NaturalBornCommunist.. No REAL conservative would defend the current communist progressive tax code over the 999 plan.
10 to 1 you are a Perry supporter.