The US Has More Tax Preparers Than Cops and Firemen Combined: Is It Time to Simplify the Tax Code?

Even a CPA has a difficult time figuring them out. :(

Flat tax with only a basic deduction for each individual in the household. No other deductions. Everyone would have skin in the game. For corporations, give basic cost of production/sales/etc. deduction, straight line appreciation (no accelerated appreciation), no deductions for any form of 'entertainment,' so special tax breaks of any kind. Maybe then GE will have to pay Federal Income Tax!

I would love to see major simplifications to tax forms. In fact, I want to replace our entire tax code with a simple "smart tax" which uses AGI based on total income minus capital losses and then takes out a single deduction equal to the poverty threshold. That's all there is to calculating your taxable income and calculating tax due is even easier; you just multiply your taxable income by the single tax rate. Done!

Something that simple could even be done by automatically and sent to you for confirmation. http://politicoid.blogspot.co...

Hell yeah it is!

There's well over 3,000 pages of tax code, and when we factor in Obummercare - it'll be another 1,000 or so - if not more!

Too bad we can't get the Goobermint to just have the tax rate at ONE FLAT TAX RATE!

The current administration would not consider doing so because it would raise the unemployment rate. All the tax lawyers would have to go out and find other work. Besides how else could they keep using the Tax code to buy votes.

It is time for a flat tax for all and eliminate the Tax code and IRS all together! Everyone pays the same percent and no forms or deductions! This would raise more revenue than the current system. Even at 10% the USA would be making more than they are now.

U.S. tax code has gotten out of control. We can end the taxation class warfare debate today by implementing a flat tax on EVERYBODY.

No, we can't.

A flat tax truly is harder on the poor than the rich.

This is a debate that will not go away. Probably ever.

It will last at least as long as some people believe they know better than I how to spend my money.

Everybody pays the same percentage. It is the only fair solution. Because I make more money than you does not mean I should be penalized for it. The reason the debate will never end is that people attempting to level the playing field will not admit IT will never happen.

$1500 is a knife to your throat when you're making $10,000 a year.

$150,000 sounds like a lot when you're making $1,000,000, but it isn't going to seriously cut into your Ramen noodles budget.

I don't want to penalize anyone for success. I want to cut personal income tax completely. Until that happens...a straight-out flat tax hurts the poor a lot more than it does the rich.

If you are making $10,000 a year in this day and age, you need to figure out where you went wrong and not worry about your 15%of taxes owed. You could make more on welfare.

That's sort-of the point to the entire "welfare trap."

And is a total straw-man. 15% when you're dirt poor hurts *way* more than 15% when you're filthy rich.

Certainly it does. But, that does not negate the fact most rich people earned that wealth. They did not steal it or make on the backs of the poor as some would claim. Therefore, they should not be penalized for being wealthy..

I agree totally! This is a *nasty* question!

Take the tax levels back to a reasonable level. Say, 1%. That still seems too high, but let's use that as a starting point.

The tax debate is always a nasty question. I'm not rich; not even close. But, my position is firm. If I wish to earn my money and keep as much of it as I can, so should the guy who legally earns ten times what I do. If the tax code keeps favoring the rich, let's fix that; not chastise the rich.

I agree, mostly. The problem I see is that a flat income tax *does* seem to penalize the poor.

This is where something like the Fair Tax does seem to make more sense. Don't apply it to basic food items, and the poor can't really complain that it hurts them more.

Personally, I think the government should be broken up into a bunch of different charities. Anyone who likes a given department can donate to their budget.

That way Catholics don't have to contribute to funding abortion, pacifists don't have to contribute to wars, etc. *And* it takes the gun out of our bellies. Anyone who thinks the entire thing is a complete waste of money can choose to not contribute.

It's just a fantasy, of course. But I haven't run across any alternatives that actually seem moral.

The problem is you can not continue to hand benefits and dollars to the poor thinking it is going to make them wealthy. They will not turn a dollar of welfare/tax breaks in to two dollars of prosperity. It is programmed poverty and will never change. You can not help those who will not help themselves.

This is true, but I don't know whether this is the way the wealth redistributors think or not. I know that most of them haven't figured out that it's a trap and an addiction.

I suspect most people never really think about it. Except maybe in terms of envy or desperation. It's a horrible situation, and I'm not sure there's anything to be done except try to prepare for the collapse.

We will never level the playing field no matter how hard we try. Generations have failed at it. Do your small part to make the world a better place and be happy in knowing that you did.

Well, one small point: people lived for hundreds of thousands of years on a *totally* level playing field. If one person starved, so did everyone else.

Not really.... Within the smaller community they may have. But, as soon as rival groups began to compete for survival, it all changed. We are who we are today because of what happened thousands of years ago.

I think the turning point was when one small group became willing to commit genocide in an attempt to control its destiny.

But, yeah. We are where we are today because of that. It isn't a pretty picture, but we're wandering far off topic

Yes... Good chatting with you on the topic, though. Catch you on another thread.

It's long overdue.

It shouldn't be hard to file things that are mandated.

Bring on the Fair Tax!

yes, we need a Flat tax....everyone pay 15% of what they earn, no deductions, no credits and the federal government will just need to learn to get by with that amount of money to spend.

15% is still *way* too high.

"It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people one tenth part." -- Ben Franklin.

I could be happy with 15%, I would be estatic with 10%

Drop it to 1 or 2%, and I might feel better about the extortion.

It's been PAST TIME to simplify the tax code!

Time to get rid of the I.R.S & have a National Sales Tax!

And take the FED with 'em!

It's called eliminate the fed and unconstitutional federal income tax, let people keep their earned money, and bring back the gold standard."Experience, however, shows that neither a state nor a bank ever have [sic] had the unrestricted power of issuing paper money without abusing that power; in all states, therefore, the issue of paper money ought to be under some check and control; and none seems so proper for that purpose as that of subjecting the issuers of paper money to the obligation of paying their notes either in gold coin or bullion." --David Ricardo

Rather than trying to simplify / fix it, seeing as how it was designed broken and cannot be fixed, we need to scrap it and start fresh. Click here for information on the best possible solution.

The best possible solution is for the State to quit stealing from us.

The so-called fairtax might be an improvement, but it seems to be presented in a very misleading way. There are far too many special considerations and complications that come into play for me to trust it.

1) The government does need money to run.
2) A sales tax is the best, simplest, most fair way to collect it.

Exactly what "special consideration and complications" in the FairTax are you concerned with?