US Tax Code - The Flaw Of The Land

In 1898, the US Supreme Court ruled that income taxes which were not apportioned (sharing government expenses divided equally across the population) were unconstitutional. In 1913, Philander Knox, soon-to-be-outgoing Secretary of State, declared the 16th amendment ratified, authorizing Congress to tax income "from whatever source derived," in what some say was an inadvertantly passed bill subjected to an improper ratification process.

The Problematic US Tax Code (profoundly abridged)

Whatever the questions about the origins of the income tax, the facts of its existence are well-known and widely despised. Even personalities as diverse as Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan have agreed that the US tax code is an embarassment to our country.

THE US INCOME TAX SYSTEM ...

... punishes the productivity of honest, hard working people.

The harder we work, the more Uncle Sam taxes us. Some see this as "progressiveness" or "taxing the rich" but where do they think the rich get their money? Fat Cats don't just absorb the costs of taxes and tax compliance. Those expenses are passed on to consumers in higher prices that are paid by everyone and hits poor folks the hardest. Meanwhile, cheating is easy and common, placing ever greater burdens on honest taxpayers. Will Rogers said, "Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf."

... is patently impossibe to comprehend.

Albert Einstein said, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." Even professional tax services like H&R Block have been penalized for filing erroneous returns.

... includes possibly the most regressive tax in the world – the payroll tax.

Payroll taxes (withholding for Social Security and Medicare) are not subject to any tax deductions, unless you earn more than $90,000 per year. Earnings over $90,000 per year are exempt from payroll taxes. About 74% of Americans pay more in payroll taxes than they do in income taxes.

... creates an incredibly damaging drain on our economy.

The Tax Foundation report, "The Rising Cost of Tax Compliance" states that complying with the tax code requires more than 6 billion man-hours every year – equivalent to the effort of more full-time employees than work in the auto industry, the computer manufacturing industry, the airline manufacturing industry, and the steel industry combined!

... puts American goods at a disadvantage in the global market.

Most industrialized nations remove their tax from exports at the border, lowering prices in foreign markets. Not the US. Our tax burden remains included in our export prices and then US products are disadvantaged further by the hefty taxes of the countries in which US goods are sold.

A Simple, Fair Solution - The Fair Tax

Whatever the problems may be taxes, we still have to fund governments' operations without placing disproportinate burden on lower income earners.

It's a delicate balancing act, but it is possible - by eliminating the federal income tax and replacing it with a national retail sales tax that is approrpriately configured to protect low income earners from disproportionate taxation.

A bill before Congress, the Fair Tax, accomplishes all this and more. It uses a rebate system to completely untax poverty level incomes. It eliminates income, gift, estate, and payroll taxes. It eliminates individuals' tax returns and the accompanying audits, penalties, fines and seizures – pay at the checkout counter and you are done.

It is the most researched tax reform proposal ever offered and it is consistently more popular - by wide margins - than any other tax reform proposal or the current system. Fully 70% of those who take the time to understand the Fair Tax support it.
See here: www.fairtax.org or read the NY Times bestseller, "The FairTax Book."

And yet, the only way this bill will pass into law is with the kind of massive, insistent demonstrations from voters that ended the Vietnam war.

Q: Why does such a popular thing require so much determined effort?

A: The income tax system empowers Congress to grant tax loopholes to campaign contributors. That is why the tax code has been changed many thousands of times since the Tax Simplification Act of 1986.

Congress will not surrender the omnious power granted them by the US tax code unless they believe they must do so in order to remain in office.

Please learn more about the Fair Tax and educate your elected officials.

See here: Quick View of the Fair Tax or read The FairTax Book