Taxes

Fringe Benefit Farm
April 15th, 2010

A long time friend sent me an e-mail decrying how a segment of the population gets away without paying taxes. I wrote him back with the following.

Bob:

For many years, I have been advocating a flat tax. 10%. No deductions, no exceptions. If you make a dime, you pay a penny If you make 10 million, you pay a million.  Everybody would have to pay, from the welfare recipient, to the largest corporation, and all the employees of those corporations.

When I first came up with that idea, in the 1960s, we could have paid off the national debt in three years, and maintained the then current level of spending.  At that point we could have reduced the tax to about three percent, and still had a surplus in the federal treasury. 

I couldn't sell it.  I told my tax accountant about it, and she said Oh No! that would put all the tax accountants out of business!   I told a friend who was big in a labor union, he said Oh No! That would be a tax on labor!   When I told my Congressman, he said, "We could never get it past the Democrats.  I spoke to another Congressman, and he said "We could never get it past the Republicans."

Now there is a move to to establish a "Fair Tax" in which which the Income Tax would be abolished, and replaced by a national sales tax.  The proponents of that idea say it passes the burden to the entire population in a fair and equitable manner.

Not a bad idea either.  In any case, we need to make some changes in our tax structure.

The first President Bush did away with many of the deductions on many of the businesses.  The oil industry was a major exception.  But we must remember, it's not the President who levies taxes, it's Congress.  The President may propose laws, but Congress has to do the deed.

We The People, in our greed, keep electing people who serve our personal interests, rather than the interests of the nation as a whole.  If someone comes up with a sensible, workable plan, and not just those stated above, they get shouted down by people mired in their personal greed.

The only thing I do know, is, Ya gotta pay yer taxes... Or Else!  Too many people are living in Federal Penitentiaries who forgot about that.

Is there an answer?  I suppose so, but I don't expect to see it in the 15, or 20 years I have left on this planet.

Best regards
Lee