Getting Rid Of IRS Is A Good Idea

IBD ^ | 04/02/2015

[SeekAndFind]

And who wrote those words? Some Tea Party right-winger? An anti-government libertarian? An anarchist? Nope. That was Nina Olson, the IRS' own taxpayer advocate, who in 2012 called tax code complexity the IRS' "most serious problem."

So what's being done about it? Well, despite rising public anger, the IRS' union is trying to get taxpayers to pony up another $1.9 billion so conservatives can be harassed, phone calls can be ignored and automated letters can be sent to innocent people — all the while making the top 1% of earners who pay nearly 40% of all the taxes less productive and less likely to create new businesses and jobs. Sound like the IRS deserves a raise to you? By the way, in 2000, just 25% of all tax returns were filed electronically; by 2013, the number had soared to 83%.

Yet, even as the workload falls, we're told that the IRS is short-staffed and badly in need of funds. Sorry, but like any other bureaucracy, the IRS wastes money on a massive scale and stands athwart meaningful reform of our tax-collection system.

We haven't backed any specific reform plan. But we would say this: Any tax reform that radically reduces the number and level of tax rates and requires all people to pay at least some taxes would be an enormous improvement on what we have today.

And, yes, we like Cruz's idea of filling out our taxes on a postcard — as was basically the case when the income tax was first created in 1913.

As repeated studies show, any reform creating a flat tax would lead to faster growth, more jobs, more new businesses, less waste. And it would make the IRS, or what remains of the nation's most hated bureaucracy, moot. Isn't that something we all want?

[MrB]

The flat tax won’t rid us of the IRS.
Only a NRST will do that,

or at least thwart the IRS from ruining individuals’ lives & livelihoods.

Tax would be collected just as all sales taxes are collected today, through the retailers.

[C210N]

It is a start...

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow Money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offences against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;—And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

[DannyTN]

And dumping the income tax completely is a bad idea.

The problem with a consumption tax is that when the economy tanks government revenues do too. Thus the very time that you need the government to step in and help people, government ends up in dire straits too. The income tax is far more stable than a consumption tax.

Instead raise the import tariffs until they are at least equal to the tax on domestic producers plus the cost of unemployed Americans. And reduce the income tax by an equal amount.

That would encourage industries to remain in the U.S. and relocate to the U.S.. It would put Americans back to work. It would reduce government outlays for unemployed. It would boost government revenues because more people would be paying income tax. It would boost American manufacturing capacity which could be critical during a time of war. And it would make us less dependent on foreign countries.

[FlingWingFlyer]

When the most powerful, life ruining government agency on the planet is being used by ONE POLITICIAL PARTY as a weapon against the American people, the bass turd has got to go.

[MulberryDraw]

The income tax is pretty ridiculous. You pretty much have to hire somebody or buy software to pay it.

[BitWielder1]

Any department that becomes too big and powerful, no longer serves the country in a good way, start to do things it was never meant to do, should be abolished or at least severely cut back to it's original size and intended function.
IRS is only one of many such departments.

[RayChuang88]

While I agree, the problem is that we need to put into place the structure to do FairTax collections. And that will take about 3-4 years to complete.

In the mean time, there's a good temporary alternative: a no-loophole flat tax similar to what Steve Forbes proposed in 1996. Even that would cut the yearly combined compliance and economic opportunity costs of the income tax by over 70%, a huge boon because we get several hundred billion dollars per year now available for real productive ativity.

[Salgak]

That’s the problem: Government is not there to HELP people. It is there to provide law, order, and peace from external attack. All else is far beyond what the Constitution set up. .

[DannyTN]

Well the first congress helped people, and you’d think they’d know the constitution since many of them helped write it.

[MrB]

I just realized I’m advocating for raising my own family’s taxes by advocating for a simpler tax structure.

I’ve, as Jefferson stated, “structured my affairs such that I pay as little in taxes as is legally possible” under the current system.

[Thorliveshere]

The media is really doing their dirty job on Cruz and his ideas to eliminate the IRS. My conservative-leaning MIL thought that by eliminating the IRS it would eliminate her social security, and therefore she couldn’t support Cruz.

[MaggiesPitchfork]

The states should collect a minimum sales tax and give a stipend to the feds, not the other way around. Then locals could keep an eye on things to a much finer degree.

[baddog 219]

[molson209]

Should not get a tax break for putting a Banana in your right and hopping on your left foot

[alexander_busek]

The problem with a consumption tax is that when the economy tanks government revenues do too. Thus the very time that you need the government to step in and help people, government ends up in dire straits too.

You are framing the problem incorrectly.

The Constitution nowhere charges the Government with the duty to "help people."

And most people never really need the Government's dubious "help."

Regards,

[DannyTN]

I’m framing the problem with what the Founding Fathers actually did.

You’re framing it out of a desire to shirk your civic responsibilities. Such duties having been acknowledged in western culture since long before America was even discovered.

[Salgak]

Our “civic responsibilities” are to obey the law, serve on a jury if called, and vote if we so choose. Otherwise, as long as we do not burden others, there ARE no “civic responsibilities”. . .

[JoeFromSidney]

And dumping the income tax completely is a bad idea.

Sorry, but you've got it backwards. Taxing income is taxing production or the creation of wealth. Bad idea. Taxing consumption is taxing the consumption of wealth. Better idea.

Remember, if you tax something, you get less of it. We should be encouraging production of wealth, not discouraging it.

As for government spending needed to boost the economy, that's Keynesian claptrap. It didn't work during the Depression. It didn't work during the stagflation of the 1970s. It didn't work during Japan's "lost decade." And it didn't work when congress passed a "stimulus package."

That idea is not a new one. During the Nineteenth Century, there was a whole parade of so-called "monetary cranks" who advocated creating more money as a way to prosperity. "Silver at sixteen to one (for gold)." "Greenbacks." William Jennings Bryan's famous "cross of gold" speech was a plea for inflation through debasing the currency, favoring debtors at the expense of creditors. Ironically, in Mark Twain's novel A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR'S COURT, Twain has the Yankee explain to King Arthur why this doesn't work.

As for tariffs, they should be abolished. It is always to our advantage to be able to buy things from where they are the cheapest. Adam Smith said it better than I can say it in a short paragraph, and he's still right.

If you want to keep manufacturing at home, get rid of the government policies -- regulations and taxes -- that discourage it. That way we'll all be better off.

[SaraJohnson]

If Cruz achieved nothing else, this would be a valuable gift to the US and our freedom, justifying his election. Homeland inSecurity needs to be disbanded as well.