14 Jan 2018 The Tax Code

How Would You Change The Tax System?

For over 130 years that the country existed the federal government collected on a persons income. Then came the 16^th amendment to the constitution, past in 1909 and ratified in 1913. The intent was to go after the rich millionaires like Rockefeller and Carnegie. People thought it was okay to tax those guys. Well unintended consequences follow. Congress and the president have an unquenchable thirst for more money. Pretty soon the lower limit on who gets tax kept falling. The majority people got caught up in the income tax net.

The federal government needs revenue. How that revenue is gathered is endlessly debated in lobby’d.

I disagree with taxing someone’s income. You should tax consumption. However, the system is not going to change unless the vast majority of the population demands it. The tax code has grown beyond comprehension. There are deductions and exemptions for every conceivable option. Everyone is a special interest in one way or another in the tax code. The tax code is discriminatory pure and simple. If two people earn the same salary but one is single rents and has no children and the other is married kids in a mortgage then the marriage one pays a lot less tax. I don’t understand how that can be justified.

I would like to see the tax code greatly reduced it it’s complexity. The tax code I would offer would have no deductions at all. It would be very simple. Everyone’s first $30,000 in income would be tax free. All tax returns would be the same type. There would be no itemized returns, no deduction for any retirement accounts, no deduction for state taxes, no child credits, no credit or deductions at all.

Any income earned over the first $30,000 would be taxed at a flat rate for all income levels. Everyone and I mean everyone could fill out their tax form on an index card. No one gets special treatment. There is no penalty for any Family situation or housing choice.

I would extend this tax plan to corporations also.  Corporations would be taxed on total income. There would be no depreciation no right offs no expenses. It would be a flat rate based on sales revenue and income revenue.

I would make the estate tax be a flat 10% for all estates over 5 million dollars.

 Capital gains would be taxed at 35% for any asset held less than two years. After two years the rate would drop to 10%. The goal is to encourage longer term investing.

As I said earlier I would tax consumption. This would probably be the most controversial. If an automobile does not me a designated Federal level of miles per gallon let attacks on the car’s Price would be collected. There already is a “gas guzzler” tax on certain vehicles, however, I would expand the number of vehicles that would be hit by this tax. The revenue from this tax would go solely to highway infrastructure repair.

 As for consumption of electricity and water, I would have an escalated tax based on usage. The tax would be significant as you consume more and more.

 If you asked people if the government should discriminate in taxes most would say no. However, the majority are more than willing to tax the “rich.” I would tax the rich not on income but on consumption of resources.

 I would be interested to hear why this tax code it’s not equitable to all.