Tax time
I used to do a series on happy fun tax facts during tax time. But I stopped, it got too depressing. And those numbers are old now. But a few items on taxes:
Is the tax code void on vagueness? Good question, really. When I last checked, the code was bloated:
The Internal Revenue Code consists of approximately 1,395,000 words.
There are 693 sections of the Internal Revenue Code that are applicable to individual taxpayers, 1,501 sections applicable to businesses, and 445 sections applicable to tax-exempt organizations, employee plans, and governments.
As of June 2000, the Treasury Department had issued almost 20,000 pages of regulations containing over 8 million words.
I’m sure there is plenty of vagueness in that. Meanwhile, the IRS is a bully and will threaten to withhold your pass port.
People ask me how I would fix the tax code. Simple, really. A two step plan:
No more payroll deductions for taxes. You take home what you earn and every month, you write a check to the government. This will have the added benefit of exposing most folks to the complexity of the stupid laws and, you know, will provide to them the real amount of money taxes cost them. Most folks think in terms of their net pay, not gross.
It will be a crime punishable by death for a senator or congressmonkey to pay a third party to do their taxes. They will be required by law to do their own tax returns.
April 15th, 2011 at 9:44 am
Or we could, you know, adopt a Fair Tax system, and acknowledge Hauser’s Law and set it at 19.5%. That way, everybody would know that if you buy something new, you pay 19.5% (or whatever it was set at) in taxes, and when they talk about raising taxes, EVERYBODY would notice IMMEDIATELY that it impacted their wallets, because it does. No forms. No exemptions. No loopholes. No favorites. No violations of the Constitution. No problem.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:01 am
Oh, but then “the rich” (people making more money than the speaker) wouldn’t be paying their “fair share” (more than what they already are). Class struggle, and all that, don’t’cha know.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:05 am
I’m almost with you with the pay-every-month plan, with one revision:
You get your entire paycheck, minus withholdings. Every year on April 15 you write one massive check to the Treasury for your entire year’s tax burden.
April 16 we hold general elections.
April 15th, 2011 at 10:52 am
And the Congress Critters and the Supremes and the Prez and the Back-Up Prez all have to do it at ONE sitting LIVE on Streaming Video, AND they get NO Pay while the Clock is Running.
April 15th, 2011 at 11:46 am
I am of two minds of removing withholding. I would rather do it via a savings account and keep the interest myself, but there are already enough ways for the chronic poor to get themselves on trouble. If you don’t want to withhold, aren’t quarterly payments an option?
April 15th, 2011 at 11:47 am
For the self-employed.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:22 pm
An addition to the second step: All Congresscritters will be audited every year they are in office.
Third step: Eliminate any and all property taxes. You only pay taxes when money changes hands, not the theoretical value of items you keep, and that you already paid taxes on when you purchased them, like your car or house.
Oh, and inheritances are not considered income: no death tax.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:43 pm
Yeah I hate paying rent to the government on property I already own.
April 15th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
and every time a law is placed on the ballot, the ballot must include the amount that taxes will be raised to pay for it.
April 15th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
How about that no law may spend more than its original estimated cost?
April 15th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
You’d better add an anti-Rangel rule to ensure that when the congress critters mess up their returns they are actually hit with the same fines and interest charges that you or I would be.
April 15th, 2011 at 8:05 pm
Wasn’t sure. My wife spent a couple of years as a freelancer. I made sure to withhold a little extra each check to avoid quarterlies. That having been said, anyone ought to be able to pay quarterlies.
April 16th, 2011 at 9:13 am
“Most folks think in terms of their net pay, not gross.”
The worst argument I have ever had was with my father about that. He was utterly incapable of recognizing that his net pay per hour decreased when he earned more money. He only would acknowledge the net pay and wasn’t capable of recognizing the existence of the gross pay or the impact of “progressive” taxation on his pay rate. He is a supporter of progressive taxation, but was and probably still is in complete denial about it.
April 16th, 2011 at 9:15 am
“Is the tax code void on vagueness?”
Yes, it is void. Since no group of people and no individual on earth is capable of understanding it then there can be no expectation of us citizens understanding or obeying it.
April 16th, 2011 at 1:49 pm
I agree with Patriot Henry, however even when you DO read and understand the code, 99% of us ARE NOT LIABLE for the personal income tax!!! I highly recommend reading this book that was just7 recently released as a E-book for free: “Cracking The Code, The Fascinating Truth about Taxation In America”
http://losthorizons.com/CtCforFree.pdf
The Feds actually imprisoned the author claiming HE did not believe the contents of his own writing…. They will do anything to keep us in the dark about the bullshit system of thievery we have here in the US.