2 of 12

No

Write now Article Tools

The so-called "flat tax", whereby each earner would pay federal income tax on their earnings at the same rate as all other earners, would be an improvement, for taxpayers, over the current federal income tax system, on a scale that is hard to comprehend.

Doing away with all the credits, deductions, alternative calculations and thousands of different forms would so greatly and so positively impact the lives of all taxpayers, that we'd wonder why it took so long for our ostensibly caring government to make this simple change, and how we managed without it for so long.

That said, the "flat tax" is not the best alternative to our current federal income tax system for taxpayers.

Our current system is a relic, and it really isn't about raising revenue to support the essential operations of our federal government. It's about power and privilege, about who gets to make the rules, and who is forced to obey. It's about redistribution of wealth, forced charity, in a capitalist economic system in which redistribution isn't supposed to happen. It's about Congress buying the votes of voters who perceive themselves as "poor", "disadvantaged", or otherwise abused by "the system", and who, necessarily, have only Uncle Sam to rely on to "level the playing field".

It's about a government that provides plenty of lip service to individual liberty and freedom and holds up its Constitution as a beacon for other nations to follow, all the while ignoring that very same Constitution in the uneven, erratic, uncaring and sometimes devastating application of its Internal Revenue Code, knowing that most taxpayers are ignorant of the law, and, consequently, too scared of their big Uncle to force Congress to change the system.

No one can deny that sales taxes work. They work, in 45 of the 50 states, at the local, county and state levels to fund the essential operations of those governments. A national sales tax, commonly referred to as the "fair tax", is as much of an improvement over the "flat tax" as the "flat tax" is over our current federal income tax system. For taxpayers, that is, but not, apparently, for Uncle Sam.

The "fair tax" would mean the end of the Internal Revenue Service. It's pretty obvious to me that Uncle Sam feels that keeping the IRS is much more important than enacting a tax system which wouldn't require the IRS. It is taxpayers' fear of the IRS and Tax Court, where the accused is guilty until proved innocent, that is the true value of the IRS to Uncle Sam. Again, it's not

• 1
• 2
• next page >>

Add your voice

Know something about Should the US adopt the Flat Tax Amendment??
We want to hear your view. Write now!