Subject: Tax Reform Proposal Comment: The attached Word document was saved in Word 2003. If you cannot open the attached document, I have included the contents of that document in the body of this email to make sure the contents get to you. I would like feedback, if possible, on what you think of my proposal. Robert Cronk Equal Freedom Tax Introduction I base my entire proposal upon one simple principle: I believe that all people should be taxed equally and receive back from the government equally in a simple and fair manner. To do otherwise is discriminatory and should be illegal because it ends up being a vote purchasing exercise. I’m not concerned as much about the details described in this document as I am about the principle described above. Establish a flat sales tax A flat sales tax across all goods would not only make the tax equal, but it would greatly simplify the tax code. Consuming products and services represents the level of a person's interaction with a society. This applies to citizens, illegal aliens, tourists, etc. Perhaps it is not the perfect vehicle for collecting taxes, but I can't think of a less intrusive one. For example, if someone made $15 and hour, they would then take home $15 an hour. They could invest that $15 and make $10 more and still remain outside the tax system. As soon as they buy anything, they would then pay tax and be done with the tax system. No tax returns, no complicated forms, no figuring out taxes on investments, etc. Businesses would then take the taxes they collect and send it to the much smaller IRS. This idea is certainly not new. If it is calculated to be too much of a burden on the poorest of Americans, we could exempt food and rent from the tax, but this would affect all people equally since all people can buy food and pay rent. The exemption would therefore not be based upon an individual that would need to qualify for this exemption, treating that individual differently than others, as the current tax code does. I oppose exemptions and believe that exemptions rob a person of membership, ownership, and respect, but in the spirit of compromise I have included the idea. Also, all goods and services should be taxed at the same rate so that a particular corporation or segment of the population is not benefited or punished based on the kinds of things they buy and sell. This would also keep politicians from buying votes and receiving kickbacks from corporations as well as eliminating the social engineering that has crept into our tax code. Also, this will prevent more social engineering by politicians who want to raise or lower taxes on certain products in order to change behavior. The social engineering and socialism that continues to hide in our tax code has not worked in other countries in which it has been tried, and it will eventually collapse and fail in our own country if we do nothing to stop it. Abolish the income tax Abolishing the income tax gives people the freedom to choose what they want to do with their own money instead of giving that choice to the government as we currently do. Abolish the property tax People need to own their own property, not eternally rent it. Owning land is a fundamental part of freedom. The purchase price of the land would be taxed at the same rate as everything else, but when the land is paid off, the owner should not have to continue paying for it (i.e. renting it) and then be threatened to have his own land taken away if he does not continue to pay taxes (rent) on it for the rest of eternity. In our current system, the government is the real owner of the land who has the power to evict the renter if the rent (tax) is not paid. This must change. Transition Period It took us a long time to corrupt our system of tax collection, create wealth redistribution, and begin social engineering, so it will take some time to reverse it. I propose that we phase out income and property tax over a predetermined period (1 to 4 years, for example) and replace it incrementally with the sales tax during that time. Educating the public about how it will generally even out and end up making little difference in the end would be helpful too. The main difference is that the tax comes out at a different point in the process and we don’t have to mess with any tax documentation ever again. Preventing future corruption Laws should be passed that prevent the tax corruption, discrimination, favoritism, wealth redistribution, social engineering, and property tax from ever happening again. This could be done with a constitutional amendment repealing the income tax, and prohibiting the rest of the mentioned items. Taxes should be redistributed equally across all Americans Though distributing the collected taxes is outside the scope of this paper, I think it would be worth while to mention that the same concepts can and should apply to tax redistribution. All people should benefit equally from the taxes paid out. This means the government should build roads, provide for national defense, provide police protection, etc. These are all things that all Americans can use equally. The rest of what government is currently doing should be privatized or done through charities. This includes welfare, social security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc. This is how the country was when it started and we should return to this. Otherwise, politicians end up buying votes from groups of people (or corporations) who benefit from government wealth redistribution and unequal taxation. It is illegal for me to rob my rich neighbor and give it to my poor neighbor and I would go to jail if I did so, but the government does this with no penalty at all. Where did they get the right to steal if not from the people? Why force charity? Why not let people give of their own free will? Conclusion By applying the principles mentioned at the beginning of this document, you can see that the tax code will be able to fit in less than “1000’s of pages,” taxes will be fair and non-discriminatory, and freedom of choice and freedom to truly own land will be restored to the people. According to our founding documents, these freedoms were given to the people by God and have since been taken away by government - exactly what the founding fathers feared. It is time these freedoms are restored. After all, this is the “land of the free” so let’s put our money where our mouth is. |