'It's time to get rid of income taxes'

Daily Nonpareil ^ | 03/20/2004 | TIM ROHWER , Staff Writer

[ancient_geezer]

"The cost of enforcing the \par IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is over $1 trillion a year," \par King said during a visit to Council Bluffs. "We're consuming 9 percent of our Gross National Product just with the IRS. It's time to get rid of income taxes, implode the entire thing."

[ancient_geezer]

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House & Saxby Chambliss Senate, offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and payroll taxes outright, and provide a IRS free replacement in the form of a pure consumption tax:

H.R.25, S.1493
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: http://www.fairtax.org & http://www.salestax.org

[reelfoot]

Fair Tax Bump.

[Maceman]

"The cost of enforcing the \par IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is over $1 trillion a year," \par King said during a visit to Council Bluffs. "We're consuming 9 percent of our Gross National Product just with the IRS. It's time to get rid of income taxes, implode the entire thing."

He needs to provide a source for this data. I'd love to see one.

[Maceman]

"The cost of enforcing the \par IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is over $1 trillion a year," \par King said during a visit to Council Bluffs. "We're consuming 9 percent of our Gross National Product just with the IRS. It's time to get rid of income taxes, implode the entire thing."

I support getting rid of the income tax, but this $1 trillion a year seems way out of whack. That would mean that almost half of the federal budget would be going to IRS enforcement, and I just don't by it. He might be adding in the loss of productivity, and the cost that people pay accountants and advisorts, but he needs to say that if he has the numbers to back it up.

[fishbabe]

please ping me!!!!

[bearkat]

Despite the tax cuts, no marriage penalty, more of an exemption for a child.... yada yada yada... my husband and I STILL owed money this year... time to get RID of the income tax before it breaks us all.

[bearkat]

Please add me to your ping.... thanks!

[aegiscg47]

Wasn't there a study years ago that showed if there was a national sales tax of 8-9% that the government would have several hundred billion dollars leftover after current spending? It would put a lot of lawyers and accountants out of work. I think the 8-9% applied to everyone with no breaks for charities, poor, etc... . My biggest fear is that you could write 10,000 pages of new tax code for the version listed in this article.

[ancient_geezer]

but this $1 trillion a year seems way out of whack.

I presume he is talking about he cost of tax compliance, as defined by Payne in '95. Works out to be over $1Trillion today.

OUR COSTLY INCOME-TAX SYSTEM

Every time Washington collects a dollar in tax revenues, taxpayers shell out that dollar plus another 65 cents. Why is that? It's not that the IRS is inefficient.

That agency's expenses eat up less than a penny of each dollar it raises. The 65 cents is what it costs taxpayers -- businesses and individuals -- to pony up each dollar. Compliance costs, which come to 24 cents, include the expense of keeping records, staying current with the tax code, and filling out the forms. Enforcement costs, close to 2 cents, include tax-???payers' expense for audits and litigation. We spend 3 cents on tax evasion and avoidance. However, the biggest expense item, at 33 cents, is economic disincentive. "By taking away the fruits of labor and capital," says political economist James L. Payne in his book Costly Returns, "the tax system works to discourage working and investing." So the next time Washington announces a, say, $10-billion program, remember that the real cost is that plus 65 cents per dollar -- or $6.5 billion more.

Costs of the Federal Tax System to Taxpayers for Every Dollar of Revenues Collected

Compliance costs	24¢
Enforcement costs	2¢
Disincentive to production	33¢
Disincentive cost of tax uncertainty	2¢
Evasion and avoidance cost	3¢
Government cost	1¢
Total	65¢

Source: Costly Returns, by James L. Payne (ICS Press, San Francisco, 1993). n

[ancient_geezer]

See reply #10.

[Not a 60s Hippy]

Please add me to your ping

[ancient_geezer]

Your are on the pinger :O)

[IYAS9YAS]

TWENTY-THREE PERCENT CONSUMPTION TAX???!?!?!?!?!

By the time you add taxes and fees that aren't in the actual revenue code and state sales tax, you're back to the old rate. I envision a lot of stuff "falling off trucks" nationwide.

[sharktrager]

2 issues:

1) He specifically states that it costs $1 trillion to "enforce" the tax laws. Enforcement is nomhere near that figure.

2) The 65% figure is highly dependant on the 33% of "production disincentive", which is not anything that can be acurately measured.

[StriperSniper]

I presume he is talking about he cost of tax compliance,

I'm glad you beat me to it, you have the data to back it up. ;-)

[Desron13]

"He might be adding in the loss of productivity, and the cost that people pay accountants and advisors, but he needs to say that if he has the numbers to back it up."

I believe that he is and I agree that I would love to see some hard figures on this issue. All of these compliance costs act as a hidden tax burden on every good and service that we use and needs to be eliminated if we ever hope to regain our competitiveness in the global market.

[Quix]

Strongly agree.

I do think some clever planning must be given to what to do with the ex IRS agents!

And, it needs to be attractive enough to get them on the side of those of us wanting to do that system in.

[Quix]

It seems to me . . .

that a major feature of maintaining the IRS

is the

INTRUSIVE CONTROL FUNCTION OF SUCH A GROUP OF . . . uhhh . . . agents.

Shrillery certainly made the most of it and probably still does.

That may be harder to pry loose than the revenue aspect.

[beaversmom]

I'd like to be added to the PING list.