Thomas J. Miller - Republican
Tax:
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified on February 3, 1913. It gave Congress the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. The total number of printed pages for all Federal tax rules in 1914 was less than 400 pages and the highest tax rate was 6%. In 2010, there are now over 78,000 pages of Federal tax rules with the highest individual tax rate of 36%.
Our Federal tax code has been transformed from its sole purpose of collecting income to pay for the operating expenses of our government to becoming an authoritative power to socially control our lives. Career politicians have used this tool to encourage/reward behaviors that they want to see happen with tax breaks and refunds while financially penalizing/punishing behaviors that they disapprove of with higher tax rates. This code has also become so unmanageable and incomprehensible that our own Secretary of the Treasury (Tim Geithner) and 26 other members of our Presidents staff cannot figure out their own taxes. It is impossible to reform a document that is composed of more than 78,000 pages.
I will terminate this 78,000 page failure and sponsor the consumption based Fair Tax. The new tax system will restore the intent and impartiality of the Sixteenth Amendment. This will not only save our economy more than $600 billion every year in administrative costs, free up millions of man hours currently spent for regulatory research and compliance, but increase Federal revenues. American citizens and businesses will be able to live, compete and grow in an impartial, reliable and globally competitive tax bracket once again.
The Federal government and several States have proven that assessing tax at the cash register is an efficient, easily understood and reliable method of collection. This will remove the Federal control and influence of our individual buying choices and allow our free market economy to be free again. By removing the politicians influence of what behaviors are rewarded or penalized, our economy and our citizens will have their freedom of choice, along with a dependable foundation, to begin making long term planning and investments.
Interesting, but it would take a Constitutional Amendment to pass Fairtax.
ReplyDeleteI don't see how any state will approve the Amendment. See, Fairtax has a "second tier" of taxation, on city and states, according to it's fine print, and their own spokesmen.
For example, the state government of California would have to pay 15 billion dollars or so to the federal government, under Fairtax.
And every city in California would have to pay it too. Los Angeles City government would have to pay 700 million. IT's really an astonishing amount of money.
But even average sized cities would have to pay many millions -- Knoxville TN, for example, would owe about 30 million. I am talking about the city government.
This is in addition to the tax on people -- the personal consumption tax.
Fairtax spokesmen admit all this -- see http://fairtaxfineprint.blogspot.com/ -- which is fine.
But I don't see city and state governments approving this in a Constitutional Amendment.
Still -- if the states want to be hit with this tax, fine. I just don't think they will.