Taxes

I finished doing my taxes yesterday: Federal and state income taxes and estimated taxes for 2011, a very long and ultimately painful process as I saw how much I pay to support the governments.

All rational persons who believe in freedom and happiness must agree that the US system is an utter disgrace and a violation of the principles upon which the US was built.  There is no doubt the Founding Fathers would revolt against the current system.

The simple problem is that system attempts to raise too much money from one source, viz. incomes.

The systems taxes wage income, investment incomes, income from property, and corporate incomes with a panoply of complex taxes and rules far too complex.

Let's think about happiness.  All should contribute something to the support of the government in a manner that burdens happiness the least.  There are two material (in both senses of the word) supports to securing happiness:  income and use of goods/services.

Thus obviously the current system neglects taxing a huge resource for happiness:  use of goods/services.  That resource is simply not paying its fair share.

What is a fair tax system?  All resources to happiness pay equal taxes to support the government.

True tax reform will subject all income to an single tax and all use of goods/services to an single tax.  True tax reform will have the following elements:

1. a uniform VAT on all goods & services (whether imported or made/done in the US).
2. a uniform income tax on ALL incomes (and I mean ALL).

The tax system will not be used for social engineering; it simply shall be a system to collect money with the least disturbance to the path of any person's happiness.

Social support systems would be direct and NOT be created via tax benefits or deductions or credits.

I will write about the details later this week, perhaps in several blogs.

Word of the Day

"Consentient" - adjective [$10]
Consentient means 1. agreeing, united in opinion; 2. concurrent; 3. (often followed by 'to') consenting.
Sentence:  All sentient beings must be consentient in thinking that the US tax revenue system is a disgrace to the Declaration of Independence.