"With a Flat Tax that IRS is still in place and can audit you, therefore it is still a bad choice."
And, exactly what will there be to audit? With no deductions there isn't much to audit is there? If you're the typical wage earner with mostly W-2 or 1099 income, what's there to fear from an 'audit'?
With an NRST, OTOH, every business owner in the US will be faced with audits of their receipts and tax collections. The IRS may be renamed but there will still be jobs for all those bureaucrats checking on compliance with their new tax collectors, ie, the businessman.
For example, the IRS accuses you of not paying your 'Flat Tax' and they audit ALL your accounts, receipts and bank records.
There is still not right to personal privacy with a "Flat Tax", unlike a Retail Sales Taxes which is audits on the business end, not the personal end.
And, exactly what will there be to audit? With no deductions there isn't much to audit is there? If you're the typical wage earner with mostly W-2 or 1099 income, what's there to fear from an 'audit'?
Plenty, when the IRS suspects cash transactions hiding income, and it digs into your finances to determine whether or not you have a little side business going. With only a report card sized return, that audit becomes wide open.
I suggest you read Vern Hoven's take on the Flat Tax, before you start throwing records out of the boxes in your closet.
mash u'r clicker here ==> Flat Tax as Seen by a Tax Preparer
by Vern Hoven
With an NRST, OTOH, every business owner in the US will be faced with audits of their receipts and tax collections. The IRS may be renamed but there will still be jobs for all those bureaucrats checking on compliance with their new tax collectors, ie, the businessman.
Actually only retail business will be subject to audits by their State sales tax administrators, just as they are today, no change there as they already are subject to those sales tax audits.
What businesses won't be saddled with are the kind of audits that are typical of income taxes that dig underneath grandma's stockings sniffing out the details of that business expense they figure you should not have taken in your weekend sideline under the "Flat Tax".
Right, fine for the W-2ers, of which I also am, but I still need to record my mileage, 59 cent reciept for paperclips, figure our personal vs. business use of my cell phone, calculate home office deductions, etc. for my real estate business. It is a real pain to track all that stuff, and then have to explain it all to an auditor who ends up disagreeing with legitimate deductions on a whim.
With an NRST, OTOH, every business owner in the US will be faced with audits of their receipts and tax collections. The IRS may be renamed but there will still be jobs for all those bureaucrats checking on compliance with their new tax collectors, ie, the businessman.
NSRT is much easier to track than all the above under Income Tax. For example, if I rent houses, I have only 12 transactions per year to report and track per house. I probably have 50 or more recipts or other transactions I have to tabulate to figure my net income, many of which are hard to document and easy to loose as a deduction during an audit. Plus, it shifts the burdon of proof. Instead of me having to prove a deduction, they have to prove I recieved more income than I reported.