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Should the IRS tax code be abandoned for a flat tax?

Results so far:

IRS Code		19%	5 votes	Total: 27 votes
Flat Tax		81%	22 votes	Total: 27 votes

IRS Code

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I have to say that as much as I would love to ignore all the large tax books, and stop worrying if I'm in "the next tax bracket," there is something that keeps rolling around in my head that causes me to favor keeping the current abomination we call the Tax Code. It's something that we are currently facing a lot in this particular blip on the radar screen of time. It's something that many of you may have experienced yourselves. Something I have had to deal with before, although I'm lucky enough to have evaded it this time around.

Unemployment.

Now, bear with me for a moment, as this will make sense in three sentences or less, and without all the fancy terminology, and charts, and alphabet soup. Imagine, if you will, all the ominous IRS buildings full of bustling mathematicians and all the tax prep shops you pass on your daily commute, especially when it comes dangerously close to that April 15th "Zero Hour." Now ask yourself how many times you've had to call them for advice, or have paid them for their services because, let's face it, this tax thing is way, way too complicated to even want to deal with, especially with all the other stuff going on in your life. Now ask yourself how many of those people would be out of jobs right now if all we had to do was "Okay, I made $30,000 this year, so here's 3,000 bucks! Have a nice life!"

As good as it sounds to get rid of all the complications of the tax code, and make everyone's lives easier, we are also way too deep into this to just jump back out and say, "Ya know, this just don't work for me!" The tax code has involuntarily created an entire industry. One that is massive. Software. Commercials, web pages, Uncle Sam costumes, college classes, antacids. This code is woven so deep into the fabric of our being, both economically and emotionally, that we would be doing ourselves a large disservice by just "tossing" it. Not to mention that the tax people pay taxes on what we pay them. So that's even more tax we would be losing out on, and, I know, nobody likes taxes, but all that money to fix roads and keep music programs alive in schools and pay firefighters, is kind of a big deal.

It would be the same as building a car that fixed itself. Auto mechanics? Gone. Tax gurus are like our financial mechanics. No we don't understand what they do, and yes we probably pay them too much for it, but they have families too. And I think in this time of dire need in the Good Ol' U.S.A., we can unite to help our fellow Americans, and let it slide.

Learn more about this author, Tyler Brotherton.
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Flat Tax

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by Rick Wildman

Here's my proposal for a flat tax: 0%. Zero is a flat number.

Punishing people for making money is irrational. A sales tax is the only sensible way to go. It can't be avoided. There's no need to compute or track or file it. New versions of it don't need to be passed every year.

A 10% federal sales tax would cover all the core needs of the nation; border patrol, law enforcement, and military. As for all the entitlement/social services programs, people would have more of their own money to solve their own problems in the marketplace. There'd be no need for government-managed health care, or any of that other nonsense. The difference between the typical tax debt and the 10% sales tax would be an effective 20% raise for most Americans. They wouldn't need politicians to address their needs - they'd be better able to do so themselves.

Of course, going to a sales tax system would make a lot of people to find new lines of work. Good! People wasting their talents supporting the IRS could apply their smarts to developing products and services we could all benefit from.

Yes, this would be a radical change, but that's the only kind of change that matters. Tweaking an inherently flawed system is not an effective approach. Let's not forget that for the first half of American history, there was no income tax, and we prospered brilliantly.

The core thing to consider is this: Do you truly believe the government can do better things with your money than you can? If so, there's no reason for you to support change. If, however, you think you'd rather support your local hardware store than foreign policy on the other side of the planet, then a fixed sales tax is the way to go.

The true debate should not be who has the better plan: the Democrats or the Republicans. The debate should be centered on this question: "Do we need a tax plan that is so complex no single human being can comprehend it?" If someone says "Yes," ask him to explain why.

Nobody thinks about whether or not the system itself is a good thing. It's only about fixing it, tweaking it, redirecting it. I am here to say that taxing people for earning a living is the wrong way to go. Take a tax on what's sold. It's simple, and we already have 50 state systems in place.

Adding a federal system, while scrapping the entire income tax system, would be relatively easy to implement, and harder than the current system for the clever to circumnavigate.

There would be no need to question who had paid their fair part, and no need to freak out every April 15.

Remember: We did fine as a nation for 120+ years without an income tax. We can do fine without it, again.

Learn more about this author, Rick Wildman.
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