As we enter the Holiday season, full of cheer and great
expectations for the coming year, I have begun thinking
about that great annual past time, the dreaded Tax Return!
Like so many other good citizens from this great country of
ours, I will leave it to the very last moment to mail off
this year’s tax return. Last year I promised myself that
this year would be different. I would make a conscious
effort to get them off before that last minute rush.
In this day and age, is this really the best system our
great and wonderful leaders can come up with? After all, we
now live in a world that allows a satellite, miles above us,
to read a license plate. We can get the worldwide web on our
cell phone; download TV programs that we may have missed (or
just want to save onto our iPods).
Our original tax laws were introduced in 1913; they were
simple and very easy to understand. We had tax brackets
ranging from 1 to 7 percent; a far cry from today’s
levels. The IRS tax codes, regulations, and guidelines, now
have well over 9 million words! It's no wonder there's so
much confusion. Is there anyone out there who really
understands this monster?
Let’s put this into some form of perspective:
- The Declaration of Independence has a little more than
1300 words
- The Constitution, which has served us well for more
than 200 years, comes in around 5000 words
- The Holy Bible makes do with less than 800,000 words.
The Office of Management & Budget estimated in 2004,
that as a nation we spent over $200 billion on compliance
cost. At a time when the nations manufacturing industries,
(the foundation of any good economy), are all struggling
against cheaper imports, shouldn’t our leaders be using
that money to create “Jobs” for their citizens? Most
experts agree that $200 billion would create well over 3
million jobs, which of course creates sales of consumable
goods, which creates more jobs, and sales taxes, at the
state level.
From the moment we wake up in the morning we are being hit
by taxes. Everyone wants some of our hard-earned money. Turn
on the lights (electricity taxes); run the shower (utility
taxes); and my personal favorite, the telephone taxes, all 6
million of them, (that's what it seems to me every time I
receive a telephone bill). We are so programmed to paying
them that we really don't take any notice any more.
Has the time come for a simple Flat Rate Tax, something we
(the people) can ALL understand? There are many countries,
all over the world, who have used this simple-to-understand,
and cost effective way, of collecting taxes to revitalize
their economies. Let's just imagine for a moment: what would
it be like if we could complete our tax returns on one
simple piece of paper?
A Flat Rate Tax for individuals, and a Flat Rate Tax for
businesses. The same rules applying to all, regardless of
the size of income. All of us paying the same rate. Most of
the successful countries have levied Flat Rate Taxes of less
than 17%, with a starting level that protects the lower
income groups.
Could life ever be that simple again? The real question here
is, would our leaders really want us to understand what they
were up to? And then, there are the lobbyists’. Oh well,
the daydream was nice while it lasted.
Benjamin Franklin once said “In this world nothing can be
said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Have an opinion or a question you would like me to answer,
then write to me!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
“Your” Money Matters by Carl Hampton
From the Author of “From
Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire.”
