The POTUS has asked Paul Volker to over see an overhaul of the tax code.
None of the reports have suggested that the code be made easier to comprehend, comply with, etc... All of the reports seem to suggest this is a revenue "enhancing" agenda.
What a shame. The POTUS continues to blow opportunity after opportunity. Given the outrageous, and as it turns out, false promises he made during the campaign (look, I don't blame him... that is what works) he needs to finds something GREAT to do. Cutting the Gordian knot that is the 29,000 pages of tax code and that turns every honest American into a potential tax "criminal", this is an opportunity that should not be missed.
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I get a lot of email from people asking me why Libertarianism is such a political failure in the U.S.
Think about it. Libertarian candidates would not be willing to reward their supporters with taxpayer's money!! That is the definition of Libertariansim. Less (and less expensive) government.
This is a sad indictment of our body politic.
I used to work in campaign politics in another lifetime. Once I realized this I went into business.
Mentatt (at) yahoo
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11 comments:
99% of the tax code applies to maybe the 1% of the population who need the page-after-page minutiae for handling complex financial transactions. In reality, the U.S. tax code is simple for almost everyone (hell, 2/3rds of people file the 1040A form, which is ridiculously simple.) We have 29,000 pages of tax code for the same reason we have thousands of pages of EPA regs on cleaning up chemical dump sites -- it is an enormously complex undertaking where everyone will cheat and dump their responsibilities on someone else, if they can.
Also, I have myself become more Libertarian on vice enforcement (do away with drug, cigarette, gun, prostitution and alcohol laws, as they have proven to be ineffective). But the Republicans have the same prob as the Libertarians -- that darn reality just keeps rearing its ugly head. Pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps sounds great -- until someone you care about dies or is harmed by someone else "being a Libertarian." Democrats advocating massive inflation is the way to go! :)
Bureaucrat:
Your statistical analysis is flawed.
Far more than 10% come under the AMT. Another 10% (or maybe the same 10%, I am not suggesting mutually exclusive subsets here) are in violation of the "nanny tax", or grass cutter tax... any time one pays another more than $1650 per year...
One part of your analysis IS accurate. Taxes are paid by the big earners. Do they need to be so complicated?
Regarding the Vice thing...
OUr justice system employees and our law enforcement employees are a HUGE voting block that will not give up overdoing it locking up those dangerous hookers and marijuana smokers until their budgets get cut.
Same with divorce law... too much money in it for the lawyers and the judges.
Yep, three cheers for inflation. It depresses the equity markets and destroys savings. A stealth tax on accumulated wealth. Let's inflate until no one has a pot to piss in. Then, we'll have reached egalitarian nirvana. Go Obama Go!
Regards,
Coal Guy
I'm grossly overpaid at $93,620, but my adjusted gross income (AGI) was around $77,000. I have LOTS of deductions with my rental property and master limited partnerships. Yet I had no AMT tax this year (or any other year so far). I won't argue with the 10% AMT figure since I'm sure New York and California people (high state income tax) get hit hard on the AMT, but for myself, 10% is hard to believe.
Who has hired help anymore? You can get all the help you need from independent contractors or from service companies that themselves have to worry about social security contributions, no?
While I didn't mention it in my piece, yes, the rich pay the most income tax -- we have a progressive tax system. The top few % of earners pay 60% of all the Federal income tax. I know who my customers are. :)
We'll have to wait till the vice enforcement becomes so expensive and so ineffective that even the votes of the law enforcement lobby won't be able to save it.
Now that I've got the wiseacre out of me, I can see that the very real possibility of huge price inflation. The UK's last auction of treasury notes did not complete due to lack of buyers. The US's last auction did not do too well either. Demand for notes is going down, so interest will go up, and the dollar will fall against other currencies. Up goes oil and everything else that is imported. But wage inflation at 14% unemployment? Not a chance.
Where will the $2T/yr to fund the deficit come from?
Regards,
Coal Guy
There aren't enough people manufacturing the things that we need to support the size government we have. It is a structural problem in out economy. Inflation cannot fix it.
Regards,
Coal Guy
I would modify Coalguys to include the financial sector which comprises around 40% of corporate profits while manufacturing(you know- real stuff) comprises around 10%....wasn't this supposed to be the other way around?
"There aren't enough people manufacturing the things that we need to support the size financial sector we have. It is a structural problem in out economy. Inflation cannot fix it."
Yep, that too! Also the size of the medical community...
Best Regards,
Coal Guy
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Quite a good analogy about the president being similar to the manager of burger king:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcMxyq7UH8c&feature=related
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