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Reform the Tax Code Now!
Townhall.com ^ | April 18, 2017 | Cal Thomas

Posted on 04/18/2017 4:55:47 AM PDT by Kaslin

Thanks to the beneficence of the federal government (and the calendar), we Americans have until midnight on April 18 to file our income taxes. It's too bad filing taxes wasn't an easier process.

President Trump has pledged to reform our tax code, which, to most people, currently reads like a foreign language. Trump said tax reform would be a top priority for his administration, but he is up against powerful lobbyists working for the tax preparation industry and also charitable and other organizations who want to keep things just as they are, since some donors would be less likely to contribute if they lose their ability to claim deductions on their taxes.

Does anyone believe this tax code language is something we should maintain? "Enter 6 percent of the smaller of line 40 or the value of your Archer MSAs on December 31, 2015, including 2015 contributions made in 2016. Include this amount on Form 1040, line 58A or Form 1040NR, line 56B." This little gem is in T.R. Reid's book "A Fine Mess," a work about our tax system that should raise the ire of any taxpayer not already irate.

Business Insider calculates that 31 countries have a simpler tax code than the United States. Estonia ranks first in simplicity. Estonia!

The federal government collected record amounts of individual income taxes and payroll taxes through the first six months of fiscal 2017, according to the Monthly Treasury Statement published by CNS News.

Through March, CNS' Terence P. Jeffrey reports, "the federal government collected approximately $695,391,000,000 in individual income taxes. That is about $7,387,280,000 more than the $688,003,720,000 in individual income taxes (in constant 2017 dollars) that the federal government collected in the first six months of fiscal 2016.

"The federal government also collected $547,491,000,000 in Social Security and other payroll taxes during the first six months of fiscal 2017. That is about $2,731,820,000 more than the $544,491,000,000 in Social Security and other payroll taxes (in constant 2017 dollars) that the government collected in the first six months of fiscal 2016."

After all that revenue collection (and there is much more, as every taxpayer knows who purchases any product or service, from your telephone bill, to a ticket on a commercial airline), the Treasury still ran a deficit of $526,855,000,000 in the first six months of fiscal 2017.

As Ronald Reagan said, the reason we have a deficit (and a debt approaching $20 trillion) "is not that people are taxed too little, the problem is that government spends too much."

In a recent interview on NPR's "Fresh Air" program with Terry Gross, T.R. Reid said: "I was in the Netherlands on March 31 -- their tax day is April 1 -- talking to a manager. He makes about $200,000 a year. He has a whole panoply of investments, two kids in private schools, two mortgages. He'd have to fill out 12 forms in the United States.

"And I said, Michael, how do you do your taxes? They're due tomorrow. He says, well, I pop a beer. I go online and see if the government's got the numbers right. And if they do, I hit a button. Takes five minutes. He says, but you know, sometimes I start checking the numbers. (If) you start checking the numbers, it could take almost half an hour just to pay your taxes. He was outraged."

The U.S. government has all of our income information (W2s and 1099s). Most of us have a pattern of deductions, from mortgage interest, to charitable giving. Government computers could do the work and send us a bill for what we owe. We could check their numbers, add or subtract from them as warranted and be done with it, instead of enduring an expensive (if we must hire a tax preparer, as I do) and time-consuming experience no one enjoys.

Instead, taxpayers struggle to decipher the undecipherable while politicians and lobbyists, who donate to their campaigns, continue to block comprehensive tax reform.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: 115th; calthomas; first100days; trumptaxcuts
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To: Kaslin
How much does it cost to collect $1 of tax?

Really....I want to know.

The cost includes :
-—the massive accounting departments maintained by businesses ( these hidden expenses are passed to the consumer),

—the costs to the taxpayer to hire professional help and computer programs,

—and the cost of the massive government collection agency ( the IRS)

We need a system that is transparent ( abolish hidden taxes passed the consumer in the form of higher prices, and is inexpensive to collect.

21 posted on 04/18/2017 6:19:05 PM PDT by wintertime (Stop treating government teachers like they are reincarnated Mother Teresas!)
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To: Neoliberalnot

Please see my post #21.


22 posted on 04/18/2017 6:24:28 PM PDT by wintertime (Stop treating government teachers like they are reincarnated Mother Teresas!)
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To: Neoliberalnot

Not if there is a minimum income tax rate regardless of deductions or credits. Currently, people with low incomes can reduce their taxable income to zero with deductions and even get refunds so they pay negative tax rates via child tax credits, EITC, etc. If there was a minimum tax rate of 10% of GROSS Income, including everything as Income like government benefits and muni bonds, then those people would not be able to skate.

The problem with a sales tax is that it encourages people to spend their money outside the country instead of here. The Fairtax, for example, NEEDS the very wealthy to spend all their income in America — if the top 1% does not spend their $3T annual income in America, the Fairtax has a huge hole in its claimed revenue to the tune of $700B/yr.

There are many other problems with the FT in particular, but any tax that has high rates at the margin and low rates at the bottom are bad. It pushes the idea that government should be free for the less successful citizens and expensive for the more successful.


23 posted on 04/18/2017 8:52:36 PM PDT by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
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To: servantboy777

Agree. My cousin and I sat down and figured up, total taxes take close to 50% of your income. The depth of greed by politicians for other people’s money does not have a bottom.


24 posted on 04/19/2017 5:05:10 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed)
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To: wintertime

I paid my tax preparer $595 this year.


25 posted on 04/19/2017 5:07:09 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed)
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To: Kaslin

A 20% import tariff and a NRST and eliminate the income tax. Step back and watch the economy on rocket fuel.


26 posted on 04/19/2017 5:09:12 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Kellis91789

If you defend the income tax in any way shape or form then you are a progressive.


27 posted on 04/19/2017 5:10:35 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Kellis91789

Sales tax for all. It’s simple and extractable. If money is spent outside the country, goods brought back are still taxable. Remember the declaration form we all fill out on return. The benefit dependent still spend their benefits and when they do, they still pay the sales tax.


28 posted on 04/19/2017 5:13:02 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed)
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To: Neoliberalnot

We need a sales tax plus a tariff. Then your talking business. Re industrialization will make the economy sky rocket.


29 posted on 04/19/2017 5:20:38 AM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn.)
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To: Neoliberalnot

That assumes they will return and bring foreign purchases with them. What about those who live abroad, return only to visit friends or make business deals, and spend very little of their US earned income here in the states ?


30 posted on 04/20/2017 12:17:33 AM PDT by Kellis91789 (We hope for a bloodless revolution, but revolution is still the goal.)
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To: Kellis91789

No doubt some would slip through the net.


31 posted on 04/20/2017 4:13:46 AM PDT by Neoliberalnot (Marxism works well only with the uneducated and the unarmed)
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