Posted: Apr 29, 2005 By: Don Loughrey

Subject: Tax Reform

Comment: 1. Simply: If every member of Congress cannot prepare their own taxes (and they make the law), it is the wrong system. Why should a family or family business be forced to pay an outside vendor $500 to $1000 just to comply with a system that is over 8 million words long?
2. Depreciation tables are not fair. How can we be expected to depreciate furnishings and machinery for 10 years, when (a) items are not built to last, and (b) technology items like computers and peripherals antiquate in a matter of months, not years? We are discouraged from purchasing new equipment!
3. We must change to a consumption based tax system and stop taxing productivity. Remember, WITH NO EXEMPTIONS, the rate can be 1% or less. The tax should be applied at all levels, on the exchange of money for any goods and services, from purchase and sale of raw materials, to final product or service. Do the math. At 1%, it will work. The poor pay less. The rich pay more. Illegals will pay the tax, even if unscrupulous employers pay them in cash. Except for a handful of states, the infrastructure to collect the tax is in place already. If you are worried about an underground economy (person to person transactions), may I remind you that we have over 30% non-compliance right now with the present system. A 24% tax on only select items (big ticket items) will kill the housing market and auto manufacturing, which are driving our economy. Exemptions will also fuel special interests. Tax everything at 1%.
4. This change must be accompanied by the abolition of the 16th Amendment. We cannon allow even the possibility of a dual system to exist. Europeans currently face middle class income taxes of 50% to 60%, in addition to national VATs and GSTs as high as 16%. They have stagnant economies and double-digit unemployment.
Thank you,

Donald J. Loughrey

Brandon, Fl 33511