We might be getting somewhere now. What percentage of prices is "compliance costs" exactly?
Oh and if you're going to "scrap the code" how come you're only reducing "compliance costs 90%"?
I'm not doing any of this. It's HR 25 that will do such.
Compliance to tax laws cost money. You can find out yourself how much compliance to the income and payroll tax adds to prices, reduces wages, and decreases ROI....you don't need or want information from me. There are dozens of experts out there who have published research on the topic.
And yes they say 90% of compliance costs will be eliminated. I won't bother you with a link, again, as you've asked not to be "spammed" with links (even thou you ask for them first!).
By "scrapping the code", as you put it, the cost of complying with tax laws is reduced by 90%.
Of course under the NRST it is the business, not the consumer, who is responsible for keeping receipts, so they will still have that expense. Under the income tax, business AND consumers must provide receipts on demand by IRS.
It would be nice to be able to eliminate 100% of compliance costs, but I'm still waiting for that bill to be introduced.
90% is 9000 times better the 0% looie!
Here is an excert from remarks made by The John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Dr. Walter E. Williams, in March of is 2002 to a standing-room-only crowd of students, faculty, and guests at Hillsdale College's Constructive Alternatives Seminar: "...Keep in mind that a working definition of slavery is that you work but do not have any rights to the fruit of your labor. Taxation and regulation constitute confiscation of some or all of the freedom to own and use property. This confiscation has reached unprecedented proportions. In 1902 expenditures at all levels of government totaled $1.7 billion, and the average taxpayer payed only $60 per year in taxes. In fact, from 1787 to 1920, federal expenditures never exceeded 4 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP), except in wartime. Today federal expenditures alone are $1.8 trillion - almost 30% of GNP - and state and local governments spend over a trillion more. The average taxpayer now pays more than $8,000 a year, working from January 1 to May 8 to pay federal, state, and local taxes. In addation to the out-of-pocket cost, Americans spend 5.4 billion hours each year complying with the federal tax code-roughly the equivalent of 3 million people working full time. If it were employed in productive activity, the labor now devoted to tax compliance would be worth $232 billion annually. The federal cost of hiring 93,000 IRS employees is $6 billion. If these Americans weren't fooling around with the tax code, they could produce the entire annual output of the aircraft, trucking, auto, and food processing industries combined..." Emphasis added
I am unaware of Dr. Williams being affiliated with ANY tax reform organization Looie. What do you think he is talking about in the highlighted part of this Looie? I RELLY hesitate to post anything with numbers in it to you Looie because we have ALL seen the effect they have on you bu I'm going to just once more for the heck of it.
George W. has proposed 760 Billion in Tax Cuts over 10 years. I'm ALL for that in the short term but if that would do good things for the economy, as I believe it SURELY would, how much MORE good would eleminating 90% of the compliance costs associated with the current income tax system do Looie?
Let's assume, for the purpose of this exercise, that Dr. William's numbers in the above article are correct (I personally think he errs on the conservative side) and compliance with the income tax consumes $232 Billion per year. 90% of that is $208.2 Billion per annum. Multiply that number by 10 and you come up with $2.08 TRILLION Looie!
That is 2.08 TRILLION with a T currently wasted dollars which would be put to productive use in the economy Looie! I say that would have a huge and beneficial effect Looie!