Subject: Tax Reform Comment: I'm writing in hopes that my comments may help your panel in it's work. I read with interest the panel's latest statement: "America Needs A Better Tax System", as well as an AP Article dated 4/25/05 with headline: "Tax Panel urges cuts in deductions, credits." While I agree our tax system is necessary to fund our Federal Government, and also with your statement that the present code reflects "quick fixes", etc. I also realize that like everything else you folks do there in Washington, the present Tax Code reflects the efforts (and expenditures) of lobbyists and Special Interest Groups. Paying my income taxes isn't what troubles me so much as the unwillingness of my elected representatives to rein in spending. Government isn't underfunded it's overspent and we all know it. The notion, prevalent throughout Washington, that tax dollars are "Govenrment Money" as opposed to "Citizens Money" is also troubling to me. I wonder if you realize that my (and most of my fellow tax payers) annual tax payments are the SINGLE LARGEST BILL we face each year. In fact, my tax bill alone totals more than my mortgage payment, my car payments, and my insurance payments put together. Please take a moment and re-read that last sentence as you consider whether or not to eliminate credits and deductions that benefit individual taxpayers. Something seems to happen to people after they get elected and move into the whirl and swirl of Washington. You all seem to lose contact with the basic daily issues your constituents face as a result of the decisions you make there. Let me suggest something to you. If you're sincere about eliminating all the confusion and unequity, and call me crazy for thinking all this is more than more hand waving and mumbo-jumbo, do the right thing for your constituents, recommend, support an enact a flat tax. I'd be very interested in hearing any comments by way of response, you'd care to make. |