by
Carl Hampton
12/27/2006
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 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!
http://www.CarlHampton.com
