Subject: tax combo package Comment: Thank you for reading my comments. The current income tax system is a joke as it costs BILLIONs of hours of time to file taxes, it costs BILLIONs of dollars to administer, and BILLIONS are lost due to tax evasion. It also discourages productivity and investment and encourages debt. I believe the best tax system would rely primarily on a national sales tax and would be supplemented by a very high inheritance tax, low corporate income tax, and an income tax on individuals making over X amount (say 300k). The advanatages of a sales tax is that it encourages saving, encourages production, is hard to evade, taxes people for silly spending (buying $5000 shoes), costs less to collect, is a more stable source of revenue than incom, takes away breaks for special interests, and is better for low-income families (assuming there is a refund for necessities). Like most sales tax proposals, everyone should receive a refund for spending up to the poverty level, so the poor would actually pay less taxes than they do know (as they can't avoid payroll taxes). Details of these types of plans can be found several other places. We need a high inheritance tax (excluding small businesses and farms) so that each generation is given equal opportunity and needs to work. It does us no good to have Paris Hilton and her friends spending their lives going to parties and doing nothing productive. There should be a 90% or so estate tax on all estates over 300k or so. The proceeds are put into a fund that provides merit-based grants to low-income individuals for purchasing their first home or educational expenses. The long term health of our economy requires high education levels, and home ownership is critical to building net worth, being able to pass a little something on to your children, retiring safely, etc. So the estate tax basically takes money from the top and cycles it to the bottom without discouraging production (as the money is taken at death) or giving free handouts (as the grants are all merit-based). The third element is income tax, and their are two reasons to have this. The first is for political reasons so that the populance will accept the system as taxing the rich more than the middle class. Secondly, it does serve a useful function in that anyone taxed at 25% or so on earnings over 300 or 500k is not going to miss the money much, they can pay people to do their taxes, and the extra revenue allows the national sales tax rate to be lower and more palatable. I believe the above suggestions all help to decrease the divide between rich and poor, encourage productivity and investment, encourage personal responsibility, and decreases time and money wasted on complying with the tax code. |