Comment: Michael J. Fecteau 117 Railroad Ave. Epping, NH 03042 (603) 679-5199 mfecteau@dinsmore.com To: The Presidents Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform 1440 New York Avenue NW Suite 2100 Washington, DC 20220 Subject: Individual comments on Tax Reform Dear Tax Reform Panel Members, April 25, 2005 I saw the representative from the panel on CNBC this morning and felt compelled to have my views included in your debate. I feel that any effort to revise the existing code would only result in a worse system than the one we have. This problem requires drastic measures and a complete change to the way we are taxed. I believe that a consumption tax is the only fair way to ensure that everyone pays their fair share. There should be some exempt amount, a figure being debated is around 50,000.00 for a family of four and this seems like a fair amount, but I would leave that to the experts to determine. This type of tax would take the complexity out of filing our taxes and reduce or eliminate the IRS saving the government a significant amount of money that would help defray the cost of transition to the new system. A consumption tax would also ensure that all of the illegal activities that take place in the country i.e. drug dealers, book makers, prostitutes, ticket scalpers, you name it, including everyone that does not pay taxes on income that they receive in the form of cash payments for services rendered or products sold, pay their share of the tax burden. The illegal aliens that are paid by farmers and others in cash would now be paying on what they earn and in order to get the benefit of the exemption they would now have to register with the government which would help identify and document them, and if they didn’t at least we would be receiving taxes from them every time they bought something. If the owners of the business decided to buy what they needed for them to avoid being caught using them, at least we would get the taxes from the owner when they bought the goods to give the workers. I believe that any transition cost would be offset by all of the money that would come in from this underground economy. Let’s face it the people that have more will spend more and thus pay more taxes. Those who decide to just save and not spend would benefit but they would be providing the necessary savings capital that could be used by banks to lend to individuals and businesses for the economy to grow. I really think that everyone would willingly pay their fair share if EVERYONE paid their fair share AND we took the complexity out of the taxation system. Thanks you for your consideration. Michael J. Fecteau |