Flat Tax, It Could Work!

Summary: With 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...

With 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 licence 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! "Your" Money Matters by Carl Hampton From the Author of "From Credit Despair To Credit Millionaire."