Kill the Federal Income Tax
By Dr. John Bredfeldt Posted in Taxes — Comments (9) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Let's get to some economic basics. Adam Smith, the architect of the Capitalist Economic System provided four tenets that a tax system must incorporate. First, the taxes paid by each individual should be proportional to their income. Second, the tax should be certain as to amount, time, and place to pay. Third, the tax should be exacted to the taxpaer at a place and time convenient to the taxpayer. Finally, the tax should be inexpensive to collect by the government and to pay by the taxpayer. The current Federal Income Tax System grievously violates all these tenets. Furthermore, the current Federal Income Tax System is too complex for any American to know it all. Congress has tinkered with the Federal Income Tax System almost yearly since its inception in 1913. The current Federal Income Tax System simply must be deleted by the Congress (if not by rescinding the 16th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution) and put a new tax system in its place that meets the tenets of Adam Smith. My personal recommendation--the Fair Tax as proposed by Congressman John Linder and Neal Boortz. What better time to do both than now. How much longer must the American taxpayer endure such a wretched system?
Adam Smith was part of a larger school of economists that believed that land was the only true source of wealth. In consequence his peers generally opposed all taxes on labor and capital, and argued that taxes should only be placed upon land. I think that he agreed with his peers on the subject of taxation, but I must admit I am going from a vague memory here.
The income tax is the product of another later school of thought among economists, which claimed that labor was the only true source of wealth. Karl Marx was a member of this school of thought, and he and his followers have consistently advocated for the establishment of income taxes.
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
you need to detail just how FT is going to get passed, along with the repeal of the 16th.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
because the fair-tax soaks the rich because they tend to consume more in terms of purchasing consumer goods. Either way, we do need a new tax code that doesn't require the IRS to mail out at least several million pieces of paper to explain to people how to fill out their taxes properly.
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In an insane society, reality is outside of the mainstream.
Politically the flat tax is a much tougher sell than the Fairtax. Tax reforms that make the system more regressive are DOA in DC.
...a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right...
---Thomas Paine---
without any sliding scale based on income or property seems the closest to what he had in mind. Some Repubs were talking about this 8 years ago
Thant would be great-If I remember correctly, he was a outspoken supporter of a flat tax early in the primaries of 2000 (I followed these fairly closely as it was the first year I could vote)
...could you update and briefly describe, point by point, how the current tax system goes against Adam Smith's four tenets for a fair taxation system? This is a non-partisan suggestion. Right now I don't think this post is really conducive to the kind of specific, non-rehashed debate I'm sure you're looking for.
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