Subject: reforming taxes Comment: I am most emphatically against a national sales tax because it burdens those of modest means more heavily than the wealthy. More of the income of the middle class and poor buys goods and services that are not luxuries so the tax burden falls more heavily on them than on the wealthy. Likewise, I am against a consumption tax unless it is placed only on luxury purchases. I believe a flat tax with no deductions for home mortgage interest is a terrible idea because without that deduction many could not ever afford to buy a home. My family is being squeezed and redlined by ever increasing tax and insurance costs as well as the rising cost of heating and electricity. We use utilities sparingly and we have not made an insurance claim in many years. My mother’s home can not be insured at all because of the expense. There has never been a claim on that property. What is needed without fail is large deductions for using solar and wind-powered electricity and where possible geothermal heating. There needs to be a way to charge those who hide income and are well able to afford it for using nursing home care paid for by medicaid. In fact, there shoud be incentves built into the tax system to encourage every means possible to allow the elderly and ill to be cared for in their own homes because it can be done more cheaply and caringly. And family members forced to give up jobs to care for their elderly and disabled need to be given tax credits and their employers incentives to rehire when the family members can return to work. I do not want the IRS to assume the knowledge for filling out my income tax. The IRS simply cannot know the necessary detail involved ahead of time. For small business owners struggling to cover costs and determine necessary yearly changes to have more IRS interference is outrageous. The Bush administration is paternalistic enough. The people of this country do not need to hovered over to do what they should. What is needed in tax reform is simplified language and streamlined forms. Legalese indecipherable to the general public is wrong and stupid. IRS could get rid of a huge layer of bureacracy just by making language and instructions understandable. Spanish language forms should be available, also. The tax structure as it is harms aging and discarded wives. Women who give up jobs to rear children shoud be given tax credits to acknowledge their enormous economic contributions to this country at no pay. The estate tax should begin at $7 million dollars for a couple. And corporations, especially those who undermine their own customers in the USA by sending their jobs and financial information overseas should be reigned in immediately. They are practicing a form of extortion. When the middle class is destroyed, there can be no economic or political stability. Sincerely, Gay Eversole |