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Invisiblesilversoul7
Chill the FuckOut!
 User Gallery

Registered: 10/10/02
Posts: 27,301
Loc: mndfreeze's puppet army
Re: Republicans plan push for ELIMINATION of IRS?!??!?!?! [Re: DoctorJ]
    #2960178 - 08/03/04 12:55 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

DoctorJ said:
Quote:

silversoul7 said:
I am all for getting rid of income taxes, but a sales tax is not the right alternative. As Booger correctly pointed out, sales tax is inherently regressive, putting a greater burden on the poor. That's why I've consistently advocated a Land Value Tax, which would take a burden off the poor without penalizing productivity like income taxes do.




if you instituted a land value tax, methinks that rich people would just stop putting their money into real estate and start putting it somewhere else.



Good.


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"It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong."--Voltaire

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Invisibleafoaf
CEO DBK?
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Registered: 11/08/02
Posts: 32,665
Loc: Ripple's Heart
Re: Republicans plan push for ELIMINATION of IRS?!??!?!?! [Re: Annapurna1]
    #2960815 - 08/03/04 03:30 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

welcome back.


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All I know is The Growery is a place where losers who get banned here go.

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OfflineTao
Village Genius

Registered: 09/19/03
Posts: 7,935
Loc: San Diego
Last seen: 8 years, 11 months
Re: Republicans plan push for ELIMINATION of IRS?!??!?!?! [Re: silversoul7]
    #2960876 - 08/03/04 03:42 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

Quote:

silversoul7 said:
Quote:

DoctorJ said:
Quote:

silversoul7 said:
I am all for getting rid of income taxes, but a sales tax is not the right alternative. As Booger correctly pointed out, sales tax is inherently regressive, putting a greater burden on the poor. That's why I've consistently advocated a Land Value Tax, which would take a burden off the poor without penalizing productivity like income taxes do.




if you instituted a land value tax, methinks that rich people would just stop putting their money into real estate and start putting it somewhere else.



Good.




thus--you wouldn't be able to fund the necessary functions of government. if you then had to raise the land value tax even more, poor people would hardly be able to afford property to live on.


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Magash's Grain Tek  + Tub-in-Tub Incubator + Magash's PMP + SBP Tek + Dunking = Practically all a newbie grower needs :thumbup:

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OfflineJesusChrist
Son Of God
Registered: 02/19/04
Posts: 1,459
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
THE CODE MUST GO! [Re: HagbardCeline]
    #2961308 - 08/03/04 06:06 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a3b59858c245b.htm

In the following editorial, Georgia Congressman John Linder talks about different proposals to our current tax system. I like his plan. He is advancing some great ideas. He even has a built in plan to make this tax less regressive. I likey.

Quote:

The Code Must Go!
By Representative John Linder (R-Georgia)
July 20, 2001
Contact: Ginny Hudson, 202-225-4272

In a July 16th article in the New York Times, Richard Stevenson reports that the White House, following passage of its signature tax cut, is turning its attention toward ?overhauling or replacing the entire federal tax code.? Also on July 16th, the Memphis Commercial Appeal ran a Scripps Howard piece by Lance Gay reporting that the IRS was celebrating that they succeeded in reducing the error rate for agents giving advice to taxpayers from 81 percent to 73 percent. These, by the way, are the same agents who can put you in jail for making mistakes on your return.

Does it strike anyone else that these stories belong in the same article?

If Congress had planned a tax code in 1912 that was destructive of capital formation, punitive against work and savings, and incomprehensible to the very government employees charged with the responsibility of enforcing it, they could not have done a better job than what we ultimately achieved. They also would have been laughed out of town.

The code must go! The hidden costs it imposes on consumers must end! The appearance created that some taxpayers are more worthy of tax breaks and credits must stop!

Over the past several years there have been three major proposals put forth to reform the tax system. Any of them would be an improvement over what we currently are burdened with. I, however, believe that the FairTax, which Collin Peterson and I introduced again on July 17th , is superior to the two others.

The FairTax would abolish all taxes on income. Gone are the personal and corporate income tax, the capital gains tax, the gift tax, the estate tax, the self-employment tax and finally the payroll tax, which is the greatest tax that 75 percent of us pay, as well as the most regressive. In their place, the FairTax would levy a single-rate, federal consumption tax collected only once, at the final point of purchase for personal consumption. And the FairTax abolishes the IRS, which would allow us to pass on an estimated $225 billion annual savings which Americans currently spend in complying with the code.

In order to avoid burdening the poor, the FairTax provides a monthly rebate to every household to totally remove the tax consequences of spending on essentials. This number is determined each year by the Department of Health and Human Services and is defined as poverty level spending. In other words - we totally untax the poor!

Americans for Fair Taxation has spent over $18 million over the past five years on market and economic research to determine what is the fairest and most efficient way to raise the necessary funds to replace the current revenues raised by the tax on incomes. One research project, completed at Harvard, argues that, on average, 22 percent of what you pay for at retail is the imbedded cost of the current code. That is to say if you spend $1 at the store, 22 cents is the tax component of your purchase.

This should not have been surprising. I have owned several businesses and never did I discover a secret drawer in which money piled up for me to pay my income tax, the corporate portion of my employee?s payroll taxes or my accountants and attorneys to avoid the tax. All of that came out of price - along with all of the costs the businesses incurred.

Ultimately, the only taxpayers in the world are consumers who consume the product and all of the costs imbedded therein. By abolishing the IRS we eliminate the tax component of our price system. Competition will drive those costs out of the system and we replace them with a 23 percent transparent tax imbedded in the retail price, but you get to take home your entire gross pay.

How will this impact our economy? Imagine selling goods and services into the global economy 22 percent cheaper while making the same profit. Imagine foreign products meeting our shores and being taxed the same as domestic production at retail. Imagine all of the world?s investors in our equity markets because there are no tax consequences. What would happen to interest rates if American companies could repatriate all of their profits that are stranded overseas because the tax burden to bring them home is 35 percent?

The passage of the FairTax would efficiently tax the underground economy and make every American a voluntary taxpayer. They would pay in taxes in the amount they choose - when they choose - by how they spend.

The Armey bill is also under serious consideration. It would eliminate all deductions and levy a flat tax on income. The most recent proposal required a 17 percent tax levy. In 1986, we eliminated most deductions and drastically lowered the tax rates to only two levels, the top level being 28 percent. We have amended that reform more than 6,000 times since then. The tax increases of 1990 and 1993 brought us back to five tax levels and a 39.6 percent top rate. Both increases were sold to the American people with the promise that the increases would only fall on the top one percent of income earners. Then we used the complexity of the code to redefine income. This was possible because we still had the code in place and knew who made what income.

The Armey proposal, which also leaves in place a corporate income tax and the payroll tax, would leave the IRS in place. That guarantees three things: 1) The tax rate can easily be increased in subsequent years. (Only on the top one percent of the taxpayers, of course.) 2) Seventy-five percent of our citizens, who pay a larger payroll tax than income tax, will not benefit. 3) The tax component of our price system (i.e. the 22% imbedded cost) will remain.

Last, and very important, the Armey flat tax presumes that we can achieve a huge cut in spending. After watching Congress struggle with the president?s proposal to limit spending increases in this year?s budget to 4 percent, I think a major cut is unlikely.

The third proposal is the Tauzin bill, which would eliminate personal and corporate income taxes and place in their stead a 15 percent sales tax. It also eliminates many excise taxes. The failings are exactly the same as the Armey bill with the added political hazard associated with passing a measure that would eliminate what some members of congress consider appropriate ?sin? taxes. We would lose many votes on the floor of the House on the proposal to reduce excise taxes on tobacco alone.

In addition, the FairTax is the only proposal that deals with the largest challenge we face over the next few decades. In thirty years, we will increase the numbers of Americans collecting Social Security and Medicare by 100 percent, while increasing the number of workers paying those benefits by only 17 percent. Under both the Armey and Tauzin proposals, irrespective of the president?s proposal to allow some private investment of retirement funds, the payroll tax must be increased or the benefits decreased in order to compensate for this funding shortfall.

Under the FairTax, the money for those retirement programs will be collected from the overall size of the economy, which economists tell us will double in size in slightly over a dozen years - well before a doubling in revenues is necessary. Also, the FairTax will increase the number of payers into the system. Currently, about 120 million workers pay into the retirement system. Under the FairTax, every citizen - as well as 51 million foreign visitors who spent $108 billion in our country last year - will contribute.

We have a unique opportunity to change the world for our children and grandchildren. We can use this moment to eliminate a tax system that never should have become so burdensome, complicated and corrosive. We can save our retirement system for future generations. And we can provide the ultimate privilege for free citizens in a free society - the privilege of anonymity. Never again would any agency of government know how much money we make, how we make it or how we spend or invest it. That alone is enough to pass the FairTax!




I have seen the future. It tastes just like chicken.


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Tastes just like chicken

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OfflineJesusChrist
Son Of God
Registered: 02/19/04
Posts: 1,459
Last seen: 11 years, 8 months
Re: THE CODE MUST GO! [Re: JesusChrist]
    #2961371 - 08/03/04 06:19 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

Here is an insane list of numbers, courtesy of the Heritage Foundation. This is just a partial of the article. The full article can be viewed at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Taxes/BG1170.cfm. Sorry for cluttering up the board with all these statistics. I myself find them both interesting and overwhelming. I think we need to scrap our current system of taxation. I think the first thing we need to do is blow up the IRS.

Quote:

737,734,941,858 Reasons...And Still Counting: Why A Flat Tax Is Needed to Reform the IRS
by Daniel J. Mitchell, Ph.D.
Backgrounder #1170


New Evidence

12,000 = The number of additional IRS employees needed to answer phone inquiries from confused taxpayers during tax filing season. 5 Because taxpayers will need to know only the amount of their wages and the size of their families under a flat tax, additional personnel will not be needed.

$1,000 = The hourly collection quota placed on IRS agents auditing individual taxpayers in the San Francisco office. 6 Although collection quotas violate the law, the current system is so complex that the IRS assumes mistakes will be found on every return. Errors will be very few under a simple and transparent flat tax.

62,000,000 = The number of lines of computer code required by the IRS to manage the current tax code. 7 A simple flat tax will ease the IRS's ongoing computer problems dramatically.

1,420 = The number of appraisals of works of art that an IRS panel performed in order to tax the assets of dead people. 8 Because double taxation under a flat tax does not exist, the absurdity of having the IRS value art would disappear with the death (estate) tax.

3,200 = The number of threats and assaults IRS agents experienced over a five-year period. 9 A fair and simple tax system will reduce taxpayers' frustrations dramatically.

What We Already Knew

136,000 = The number of employees at the IRS and elsewhere in the government who are responsible for administering the tax laws. 10 Because the number needed is dictated by the complexity of the tax code, fewer personnel will be needed under a flat tax, and the downsizing of the IRS will save taxpayers a significant amount of money.

$13,700,000,000 = The amount of tax money spent by the IRS and other government agencies to enforce and oversee the tax code. 11 Both taxpayers and the economy will benefit from the spending reductions made possible by a flat tax.

17,000 = The number of pages of IRS laws and regulations, 12 not including tax court decisions and IRS letter rulings. This page count would be reduced significantly by a flat tax.

5,557,000 = The number of words in the income tax laws and regulations. 13 With a flat tax, there will be no need for a tax code that is nearly seven times longer than the Bible.

The IRS Paper Machine

With so many employees, so much money, and such a cumbersome tax code, it should come as no surprise that the IRS is one of the country's biggest paper-pushers.

New Evidence

820 = The number of pages added to the tax code by the 1997 budget act. 14 A flat tax will slash it to a fraction of its current size.

250 = The number of pages needed to explain just one paragraph in the Internal Revenue Code. 15 A simple flat tax will avoid needless IRS regulation.

271 = The number of new regulations issued by the IRS in 1997. 16 By putting an end to constant social engineering, a flat tax will halt the IRS's constant rewriting of the tax rules.

261 = The number of pages of regulations needed to clarify the tax code's "arms-length standard" for international intercompany transactions. 17

569 = The number of tax forms available on the IRS Web site. 18 Only two postcard-size forms will be necessary under a flat tax: One for wages, salaries, and pensions, the other for business income.

What We Already Knew

31 = The number of pages of fine print in the instructions for filling out the "easy" 1996 1040EZ individual tax form. 19 By contrast, individuals will need just one page of instructions to fill out a flat tax postcard.

8,000,000,000 = The number of pages in the forms and instructions the IRS sends out every year. Under a flat tax, the postcard-sized forms are virtually self-explanatory. 20

36 = The number of times the paperwork the IRS receives would circle the earth each year. 21 Complexity and paperwork will all but vanish under a simple flat tax that treats all citizens equally.

293,760 = The number of trees it takes each year to supply the 8 billion pages of paper used to file income taxes in the United States. 22 A flat tax using two simple postcards obviously will be more friendly to the environment.

1,000,000,000 = The number of 1099 forms sent out each year to help the IRS track taxpayers' interest and dividend income. 23 Under a flat tax, business and capital income taxes will be collected at the source, thereby eliminating this paperwork conundrum.

The IRS Briar Patch

Much to the chagrin of taxpayers, the IRS does not focus solely on generating paperwork. Tasked with enforcing the cumbersome tax code, the agency has numerous unwelcome contacts with taxpayers every year.

New Evidence

33,984,689 = The number of civil penalties assessed by the IRS in 1996. 24 Because a flat tax will be so fair and simple, the IRS will have little reason to go after taxpayers.

10,000 = The number of properties seized by the IRS in 1996. 25 Part of this problem is caused by the government's trying to take too much money from people, and part is caused by complexity. A flat tax will reduce the government's take and eliminate complexity.

750,000 = The number of liens issued by the IRS against taxpayers in 1996. 26 A simple, low flat tax will result in fewer fights between the government and taxpayers.

2,100,000 = The number of IRS audits conducted in 1996. 27 Without all the complex provisions in the code under a flat tax, the IRS will have few returns to audit.

85 = The percentage of taxpayers selected by the IRS for random audits who had incomes less than $25,000. 28 A complicated tax code benefits the wealthy, who can fight back. A flat tax will be good news for those with more modest incomes.

47 = The percentage of taxpayers living in just 11 southern states subject to random audits. 29 Because audits will decline dramatically under a flat tax, so will discriminatory audit patterns like this one.

What We Already Knew

10,000,000 = The number of corrections notices the IRS sends out each year. 30 With a simple and fair tax system like a flat tax, mistakes will become rare.

190,000 = The number of disputes between the IRS and taxpayers in 1990 that required legal action. 31 In a flat tax environment, there will be few potential areas of disagreement, and legal action will become scarce.

3,253,000 = The number of times the IRS seized bank accounts or paychecks in 1992. 32

33,000,000 = The number of penalty notices the IRS sent out in 1994. 33 Because a flat tax will eliminate complex parts of the tax code, the number of disagreements between taxpayers and the agency will plummet.

Do as They Say, Not as They Do

The IRS is quite strict with taxpayers who make mistakes, but the following examples illustrate that it would have a hard time living up to the standards imposed on taxpayers.

New Evidence

15 = The number of years the IRS believes it will need to modernize its computer system. 34 A simple, flat tax will not require complex computer systems.

1,000,000 = The number of Americans who received tax forms with erroneous mailing labels in 1998. 35

20 = The percentage error rate at the IRS for processing paper returns. 36 Even children would be able to process postcard returns under a flat tax.

6,400 = The number of computer tapes and cartridges lost by the IRS. 37 Once a flat tax is implemented, these tapes and cartridges could remain lost.

22 = The percentage of times reporters for Money magazine received inaccurate or incomplete information in 1997 when calling the IRS's toll-free hot line. 38 To file a return under a flat tax, Americans will need to know only the size of their families and the amount of their wages, salaries, and pensions; they will not need to call the IRS.

40 = The percentage of times Money magazine reporters received wrong answers in 1997 in face-to-face visits at IRS customer service offices. 39 A flat tax will be so simple that such mistakes will become almost non-existent.

$800,000,000 = The estimated cost to update the IRS's computers for the year 2000. 40 Scrapping the tax code for a flat tax will allow the government to institute a simpler computer system.

500,000 = The number of address changes made to correct the master file by IRS employees each year. 41

78 = The percentage of IRS audit assessments on corporations that eventually are disqualified. 42 A flat tax will replace the onerous corporate tax with a simple, postcard-based system.

What We Already Knew

8,500,000 = The number of times the IRS gave the wrong answer to taxpayers seeking help to comply with the tax code in 1993 (taxpayers still are held responsible for errors that result from bad advice from the IRS). 43 A flat tax will be so simple that taxpayers rarely--if ever--will need to call the IRS.

47 = The percentage of calls to the IRS that resulted in inaccurate information, according to a 1987 General Accounting Office study. 44 A flat tax will free IRS personnel from the impossible task of deciphering the convoluted tax code.

5,000,000 = The number of correction notices the IRS sends out each year that turn out to be wrong. 45 An error rate of 50 percent will be impossible under a flat tax.

40 = The percentage of revenue that is returned when taxpayers challenge penalties. 46 Under a flat tax, penalties will become rare, so fewer penalties will be assessed incorrectly.

$5,000,000,000 = The amount of money that taxpayers were overcharged for penalties in 1993. 47 After a flat tax goes into effect, such injustice will all but disappear.

3,000,000 = The number of women improperly fined each year because they have divorced or remarried. 48 Taxing income at the source under a flat tax will eliminate such travesties.

10,000,000 = The number of taxpayers who will receive lower Social Security benefits because the IRS failed to inform the Social Security Administration about tax payments. 49 A simple flat tax is likely to free enough IRS time and resources to fix this problem.

$200,000,000,000 = The amount of misstated taxpayer payments and refunds on the books of the IRS. 50 The IRS is no more able to administer tax laws that defy logic than is the average taxpayer. A flat tax will rectify this problem.

64 = The percentage of its own budget for which the IRS could not account in 1993, according to an audit by the U.S. General Accounting Office. 51

$8,000,000,000 = The amount the IRS spent to upgrade its computer system unsuccessfully. 52 Under a flat tax, this money will be saved because the IRS no longer will need to track an impossibly complex and unfair tax system.

$23,000,000,000 = The total proposed price for the IRS's computerization and modernization plans by 2008. 53

Being Compliant and Miserable on April 15

Sending huge amounts of tax money to Washington, D.C., is never pleasant. Having to incur huge compliance costs for the privilege of paying taxes, however, really rubs salt in the tax wound.

New Evidence

6,400,000 = The number of taxpayers who visited IRS customer service centers seeking answers to their tax questions in 1996. 54 With a flat tax, few taxpayers will need help.

99,000,000 = The number of taxpayers trying to comprehend the tax system who called IRS hotlines in 1996. 55 So long as a taxpayer knows his income and the size of his family under a flat tax, he will have nothing to worry about.

30 years = The number of years a dispute can last between the IRS and a corporation. 56 Even one-year disputes will be rare under a flat tax.

8,000,000 = The increase in the number of taxpayers who will be subject to the alternative minimum tax by 2007. 57 This absurd provision forces taxpayers to calculate their income two ways and then pay the government the higher of the two amounts. It will disappear under a flat tax.

$134,347,500,000 = The Clinton Administration's estimate of private-sector compliance costs. 58 If the defenders of the status quo admit compliance costs are this high, the actual costs may well be even higher.

653 = The number of minutes the IRS estimates it takes to fill out a 1040 form. 59 A flat tax postcard can be filled out in five minutes.

72 = The number of inches of height of the stack of tax forms in the Chrysler Corporation's tax return. 60 A postcard return is only a fraction of one inch in height.

6,000,000 = The number of unanswered phone calls made to the IRS in January and February 1998. 61 Considering that answered calls frequently result in mistakes, taxpayers who fail to get through probably should feel lucky.

2,400,000 = The number of phone calls to the IRS that resulted in busy signals in January and February 1998. 62 A busy signal is better than a wrong answer because the IRS holds taxpayers liable for mistakes even if they are following IRS advice.

56 = The percentage of calls to the IRS in 1997 that went unanswered. 63 Again, no answer is better than a wrong answer.

What We Already Knew

$157,000,000,000 = The amount spent by the private sector to comply with income tax laws. 64 Under a flat tax, these costs will drop by more than 90 percent.

$7,240 = The average compliance cost incurred by all but the biggest 10 percent of corporations for every $1,000 of taxes paid in 1992. 65 The radical simplification brought about by a flat tax will be a boon for small businesses that cannot maintain legal and accounting staffs to comply with the tax code.

50 = The percentage of taxpayers who feel compelled to obtain assistance in filling out their taxes each year. 66

5,400,000,000 = The number of hours it takes Americans to comply with federal tax forms. 67 With only two postcard-sized forms, compliance under a flat tax will require minutes, not hours.

2,943,000 = The number of full-time equivalent jobs spent on compliance. 68 In the flat tax world, the cost of tax compliance will fall by more than 90 percent.

$3,055,680,000 = The market value of the tax preparation firm H&R Block, Inc., which opposes a flat tax. 69 The company's opposition is understandable because a flat tax will allow anyone to fill out a tax return without paying an expert.

Even Experts Can't Figure Out the Forms

Jumping through all the tax hoops might not be so painful if taxpayers at least could be confident that the effort led to accuracy. The ultimate insult added to their injury, however, is that even "expert" advice is no guarantee of receiving correct answers to tax code questions.

New Evidence

$24,000,000,000 = The difference between what corporations said they owed and what the IRS said they owed in 1992--a gap the government admits is due to ambiguity and complexity in the code. 70 A flat tax will eliminate the confusion embedded in the current system.

46 = The number of wrong answers Money magazine received in 1998 when it asked 46 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's 1997 tax liability. 71 Professional assistance will not be necessary with a simple, flat tax.

$34,672 = The difference in liability between the highest and lowest incorrect answers among the 46 professionals who failed to calculate the tax liability of Money magazine's hypothetical family. 72 Such responses will be all but impossible under a flat tax.

$610 = The amount the hypothetical family would have overpaid on its 1997 taxes if it had used the answer that came closest to the actual tax liability (assuming, of course, that Money magazine's expert had filled out the tax return correctly). 73 Any mistakes, especially large ones, will be unlikely under a flat tax.

45 = The number of professional tax preparers who came up with different answers when asked by Money magazine in 1997 to fill out a hypothetical family's 1996 tax return. 74

45 = The number of professional tax preparers who came up with wrong answers when asked by Money magazine in 1997 to fill out a hypothetical family's 1996 tax return. 75

76 = The percentage of professional tax preparers who missed the right answer by more than $1,000. 76 This kind of result will be impossible under a flat tax.

$58,116 = The difference between the lowest estimate of the family's tax bill and the highest estimate in Money's survey of tax professionals. 77 Because the complexities in the tax code will disappear under a flat tax, mistakes like this will, too.

$81 = The average hourly fee charged by the professional preparers who came up with the 45 wrong answers. 78 Taxpayers will pay nothing to calculate their own taxes on postcards under a flat tax.

What We Already Knew

50 = The number of different answers that 50 tax experts gave Money magazine in 1988 when asked to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability. 79 Under a flat tax, taxpayers will not need to consult tax preparers, much less run the risk of paying penalties for wrong answers.

50 = The number of different answers Money magazine received in 1989 when it asked 50 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability. 80

48 = The number of wrong answers Money magazine received in 1990 when it asked 50 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability. 81

49 = The number of different answers Money magazine received in 1991 when it asked 50 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability. 82

50 = The number of wrong answers Money magazine received in 1992 when it asked 50 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability. 83

41 = The number of wrong answers Money magazine received in 1993 when it asked 50 different tax experts to estimate a hypothetical family's tax liability (9 of the original volunteers did not bother even to respond). 84

The Never-Ending Shell Game

The needless complexity of the current tax code helps explain the reasons that both the IRS and private tax experts frequently make mistakes. Another reason that taxpayers have a problem complying with the law is that politicians have made the tax code a moving target.

New Evidence

824 = The number of changes in the tax code accompanying the 1997 tax cut. 85 A flat tax will put an end to constant social engineering.

285 = The number of new sections in the tax code created by the 1997 budget act. 86 A flat tax will eliminate most of the tax code.

3,132 = The number of pages needed by the Research Institute of America to explain the changes in the tax law in 1997. 87 Flat tax postcards need just one page of instructions.

11,410 = The number of tax code subsection changes between 1981 and 1997. 88 A flat tax will eliminate most of those subsections.

160 = The percentage increase in the stock value of tax preparation firms in the three-month period during and after enactment of the 1997 budget. 89

54 = The number of lines on the new capital gains form, up from 23 before the 1997 budget deal. 90 Because double taxation will end under a flat tax, the capital gains form will disappear.

What We Already Knew

878 = The number of times major sections of the tax code were amended between 1955 and 1994. 91 A flat tax will eliminate today's confusingly complex tax code and replace it with a simple system that does away with constant tinkering and social engineering.

100 = The increase in the number of forms between 1984 and 1994. 92 A flat tax will eliminate all 100 forms.

9,455 = The number of tax code subsections changed between 1981 and 1994. 93 Under a flat tax, politicians will not be able to use the tax code to micromanage economic or social behavior.

578 = The percentage increase in the number of tax code sections between 1954 and 1994 that deal with major segments of tax law. 94 Endless changes in tax law will grind to a halt under a flat tax.

5,400 = The cumulative number of changes in tax law since the 1986 Tax Reform Act. 95 Most, if not all, of these changes add compliance costs to the economy--costs that a flat tax will reduce substantially or eliminate.

$20,500,000,000 = The amount of lost income the economy suffered in 1993 as a result of the economic uncertainty in the business community caused by the constant manipulation of the tax code. 96 To help prevent politicians from undermining business planning by constantly changing the tax laws, a flat tax law should include a supermajority provision blocking such tax rate increases.

The Augean Stables

The problem is not the IRS, but the politicians who created the incomprehensible tax code and those who refuse to reform the system. Politicians also are practically the only people in the country who benefit from a complex and constantly changing tax code.

New Evidence

$400,000,000 = The amount of the special tax break for one corporation inserted in the tax code in 1986 at the urging of Dan Rostenkowski (D-IL), then chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. 97 A flat tax will wipe out provisions for special-interest groups.

What We Already Knew

$413,072 = The average amount of political action committee contributions received by members of the House of Representatives tax-writing committee during the 1994 election cycle. 98 A flat tax will reduce special-interest corruption and eliminate the ability of politicians to use the tax code to reward friends and punish enemies.

12,609 = The number of special-interest organizations officially represented by congressional lobbyists. 99 A flat tax will wipe out all special preferences, loopholes, deductions, credits, and tax shelters.

$3,200,000,000 = The total amount earned by Washington, D.C., lobbyists in 1993. 100 By taking away the playing field for special-interest tinkering, a flat tax will clean up political pollution.

2 = The number of IRS offices in Washington, D.C., made available to Members of Congress and their staffs. 101 With someone else doing their taxes--free--it is little wonder that Members of Congress do not understand the public support for a flat tax.

Why Johnny Refuses to Pay

There comes a point at which taxpayers simply give up. Some are driven into the underground economy by the sheer complexity of the system. Others conclude that an unfair tax code has no moral legitimacy and simply refuse to comply.

What We Already Knew

$127,000,000,000 = The amount of taxes not paid as a result of tax evasion. 102 A fair, simple, flat tax will reduce tax evasion.

10,000,000 = The number of people who unlawfully do not file tax returns. 103 By reducing both the tax burden and compliance costs, a flat tax will bring people out of the underground economy.

3,500,000 = The number of people who do not file who would be eligible for refunds. 104 Perhaps more than any other number, the millions of people who fail to file in order to claim their tax refunds reveals just how intimidating the tax code has become.

4 = The number of times a single dollar of income can be taxed under the current system, counting the capital gains tax, corporate income tax, personal income tax, and death (estate) tax. 105 By eliminating double taxation, a flat tax will make sure the government treats all income equally and will end one of the biggest causes of tax evasion and complexity in the current tax code.

100,000 = The number of Internet sites found by one search engine when queried for the phrase "tax shelter." 106 Because a flat tax will eliminate all discrimination in the tax code and allow people to keep a greater share of their income, tax shelters will almost vanish after reform.

Enough Is Enough

The damage caused by the current tax code, both to the economy and to the body politic, is reaching crisis proportions. Insulated from the effects of their own handiwork, however, politicians are very likely to be the last ones to understand just how indefensible the system has become. Perhaps these real examples of IRS abuse will help them to understand the problem:

New Evidence

$3,500 = The amount one woman was forced to pay twice, even though the IRS eventually admitted the debt had been owed--and paid--by her former husband. 107

$210,260 = The amount the IRS tried to garnish from the wages of a woman for the back taxes her husband had owed before their marriage. 108

$26 = The amount the IRS seized from a 6-year-old's bank account because her parents owed money. 109

$70,000 = The amount demanded by an IRS agent who was threatening to send a couple to jail in a case that the tax court subsequently dismissed because the IRS's claim "was not reasonable in fact or in law." 110

$500,000 = The amount the IRS was forced to pay a taxpayer after engaging in a vendetta against him, including putting the innocent man in jail for four months. 111

$6,484,339 = The amount demanded by the IRS from the family of a victim of Pan Am flight 103, based on the assumption of a future settlement. 112

$900,000 = The amount a small businessman was fined after being entrapped by his accountant, a paid informer for the IRS. 113

$5,300,000 = The amount the IRS paid its informants in 1993. 114

25 = The percentage of households with incomes over $50,000 that would pay an inaccurate assessment from the IRS rather than fight. 115

What We Already Knew

$46,806 = The amount of tax penalty imposed on one taxpayer in 1993 for an alleged underpayment of 10 cents. 116

1,300 = The number of IRS employees investigated and/or disciplined for improperly viewing the tax returns of friends, neighbors, and others. 117

$155 = The amount of penalty imposed on a taxpayer in 1995 for an alleged underpayment of 1 cent. 118

50 = The percentage of top IRS managers who admitted they would use their position to intimidate personal enemies. 119

$14,000 = The amount allegedly owed by a daycare center that was raided by armed agents, who then refused to release the children until parents pledged to give the government money. 120

80 = The number of IRS agents referred for criminal investigation on charges of taking kickbacks for fraudulent refund checks. 121

$3,000,000,000 = The dollar assets of Princeton/Newport, an investment company that was forced into liquidation after 40 armed federal agents raided the company on suspicion of tax evasion--only to have the IRS later conclude that Princeton/Newport actually had overpaid its taxes. 122

$10,000 = The fine imposed on one taxpayer for using a 12-pitch typewriter to fill out his tax forms instead of a 10-pitch typewriter. 123

109 = The number of envelopes containing unprocessed information found in the trash at the IRS's Philadelphia Service Center. 124

GRAND TOTAL: More than 737 billion incredible-but-true reasons to simplify the tax code with a flat tax.






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Invisibleafoaf
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Re: THE CODE MUST GO! [Re: JesusChrist]
    #2961397 - 08/03/04 06:24 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

curiously, don't capital gains taxes help to keep equity markets somewhat stable?

if you removed the penalty for day-trade type flipping, wouldn't that
lend some instability to the marketplace?


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Invisibleafoaf
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Re: THE CODE MUST GO! [Re: JesusChrist]
    #2961447 - 08/03/04 06:42 PM (19 years, 9 months ago)

James Bovard has a great chapter about the ills and evils
of the IRS in his book

Shakedown: How the Government Screws You from A to Z


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