Here is an excerpt from remarks made by The John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics at George Mason University, Dr. Walter E. Williams, in March of this year 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 addition 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.
And he is ONLY talking about costs of compliance here!
Someone has their facts all screwed up. Boeing (in the aircraft industry) had sales of 54.48 billion the previous 12 months. That's almost 9 times the cited $6 billion for one (very large) company in one of the cited industries.
In addition 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.Uh huh, we've seen that phoney study. That's where they value your time watching Oprah at $25.00 an hr. Instead you're doing your taxes when you could be making candles in the garage, or mowing your neighbors lawn (for $25 hr.) As if everyone would get a second job rather than spend a few hours doing their taxes.
The fairtax answer to unproductive people is to "untax" them by sending them yet another big government check every month paid for from the fruits of someone elses labor simply because they can afford to buy more stuff. What's the value if all those people were employed in productive activity?