Benjamin Franklin famously said the only two certainties in life are death and taxation. Most of us are beginning classes after having worked summer jobs: Did you happen to notice the taxes you paid?
The Internal Revenue Service Code consists of nine million words. To put this in perspective, the Bible has 773,000 words. The Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words. The Bill of Rights: 650. None of these can challenge the complexities constantly being scribbled into our tax code.
The IRS employs 115,000 people-that’s four times the size of the FBI. More than 350,000 trees a year are cut down to provide information pamphlets, and 5.4 billion hours are spent completing tax forms. Paying the government has become so difficult that 60 percent of us hire others to provide the service of taking our money and handing it to the state. Why do we put up with this?
If a flat tax were applied to individuals and corporations, it would have drastic and necessary positive effects. It would increase corporate revenues, real wage income, and decrease the unemployment rate. This, in turn, would maximize our purchasing power and provide for a much higher standard of living.
A single rate tax would take out countless monetary variables and leave the citizen. And what is stupefying about it all is that a flat tax would increase government stipends. Let me repeat this, because many D.C. elites don’t hear well. A flat tax would lower taxes for everyone, and boost government revenue. History reveals that lower taxes invigorate the economy, and foster an explosion in job growth. This results in additional profits for private business. Despite the fact that they will be taxed at a lower rate, that rate is applied to more money, thereby increasing government cash flow.
The destitute and even modest middle class would reap the benefits of no federal taxes at all-none! Current flat tax proposals call for a 17 percent income/profit tax rate, across the board, applicable to everyone, avoided by no one-except for those with low incomes. With a flat tax policy, anyone earning $20,000 or less of taxable income would not pay a single cent to the feds.
Politics is said to be a zero-sum game, but it doesn’t have to be. In this case Republicans, Democrats, corporations, small business, and most importantly the people, win. A short tax would ensure less government intervention, more spending on social programs, mitigate the drag on small business, and provide a simple solution to a corrupt, convoluted colossal of a book that we call our tax code.
So why doesn’t Washington want to invoke a plan that is sure to produce results that both parties claim to seek? It’s because those Justia Omnibus-singing legislators of ours are drunk with power. Washington politicians use the tax code to extract huge amounts of influence. The Ways and Means and House Appropriations Committees are the most sought after positions by lawmakers. These committees control you through their tax policies.
See, corporations (at least the successful ones) know where the money is, and they’ll find it. They spend millions of dollars on lobbyists to woo members of the aforementioned committees, among others. Yeah, they might get taxed to hell by Uncle Sam, but they know that it’s all coming back from these same people in the form of subsidies, grants, and even just plain tax cuts-if they take the right person out to dinner. Throw in a campaign donation over drinks at the bar, and suddenly a house paint manufacturer is receiving a multi-million dollar grant for “military research”. (See Congressman Jack Murtha and Sherwin Williams).
A flat tax would end much of the corruption in Washington. Let’s take away the tax loopholes that corporations use to avoid taxes and politicians use to reward some while punishing others. Those of you who have faith in God remember this: The Bible has convinced billions of the existence of eternal life after death in less than 800,000 words. Why does it take the government 11 times that to explain our taxes?