“Taxes” — it was the word present in everyone in Washington’s vocabulary just before Congress went into recess as they argued over extending certain tax breaks. Meanwhile, in homes all across our nation Americans still struggle to decipher the overly complicated, confusing, frustrating and unjust tax code year after year in an effort to file their tax returns.
I hate the current tax system and I’m not alone. A poll conducted a couple months ago by Ipsos found that nearly 6 of 10 people say our tax system is unfair. This percentage has virtually been unchanged in the last two decades.
But why should it? Why should people think our tax system has become more fair? Afterall, throughout Bush the 1st’s “read my lips, no new taxes” pledge which he later broke by raising taxes, to President Clinton’s blend of tax increases with tax rebates for the working class, to Bush the 2nd’s slashing tax cuts mostly for the rich one thing has remained the same: It’s still income taxation.
Income taxation — a form of taxation which encourages people not to work.
Income taxation — a form of taxation which results in lower wages and being being taxed more for working more.
Income taxation — a form of taxation which actually penalizes people for working and doing their part to further the American dream.
Income taxation — a form of taxation which makes it virtually impossible for the majority of Americans to get ahead.
The problem isn’t the amount people are taxed or the tax brackets or even the tax code, but our current tax system all together. We need replacement, not reform.
An alternative to income taxation is needed. One that is fair. One that, unlike the Flat Tax, actually simplifies the tax code.
That alternative tax system does exist and it is one for shares a name with the fairness in taxation that the majority of Americans say they are not getting under the current system: The Fair Tax.
The Fair Tax is a national sales tax. The tax rate under most versions of this system is 23%. It would completely replace income taxation as the primary source of revenue for our government including personal, estate, gift, alternative minimum, capital gains, Social Security, Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes.
There are numerous benefits to replacing income taxation with a national sales tax. For one, the majority of Americans will not be taxed more under the Fair Tax system as most are either paying the same amount or more under the current system.
It will be a much simpler tax system. Not only would it simplify the tax code — it would essentially eliminate it. Since it’s a sales tax and therefore you’d pay the tax immediately when purchasing goods or services there would be no more complex, frustrating tax forms to fill out. No more W-2’s, W-7’s, 1040’s, 1040EZ’s, 1040EZ9005676… and yes, you guessed it, no more IRS (can I get a “woohoo!”?) as we would no longer need a central tax collection agency because the states would collect the national sales tax.
The Fair Tax will cause wages to rise and prices fall. It is also a more stable source of revenue than income taxation as it is consumption-based.
These benefits are just the tip of the iceberg.
Many argue that a national sales tax would be regressive (i.e. it would place more tax burden on the poor) as sales taxes generally are regressive. However, when you consider that the Fair Tax includes a rebate system which actually makes the effective rate progressive than this argument goes right out the window.
This rebate system would work by using the Department of Health & Human Service’s poverty level guideline (a well-accepted and long-used calculation which determines the needs of a family based on, among other things, family size — it includes food, shelter, clothing, medical care, transportation, etc. in its calculation) and multiplying the figure determined by the guideline by the tax rate. The result would be the size of the monthly rebate for each family.
For example, according to the 2006 guideline a two-adult household with 2 children will consume $26,400 a year. The rebate would therefore amount to $506 a month for a total of $6,022 a year.
The bottom line, our current tax system is one of the reasons that Americans are finding it so difficult to get ahead these days and that our next generation runs the risk of not having a standard of living as high as our current generation.
The Fair Tax isn’t perfect, I’ll be the first to admit that, but nothing is and it’s a hell of a lot better than what we’ve got.
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For more information on the Fair Tax visit: http://www.fairtax.org
