We work, on average, 103 days per year to pay our taxes.
My favorite book, Atlas Shrugged, contains 645,000 words. One of my least favorite documents, the federal tax code, contains 3,700,000 words. Sounds like its time for a flat tax or the FairTax.
We are in the 11th hour in the decision for our next president and either we have our heads up our asses or we're all like moths following the bright and shiny light in the Obama/Biden moth trap.
Exactly how does the Obama/Biden camp define rich? Exactly how would an Obama administration change our already onerous and ridiculous tax code?
Obama's tax-cut threshold shrinking? Confusion abounds as voters hear $250,000, $200,000, now $150,000
Originally, Obama said everyone making less than $250,000 will not see a tax increase.
Then Obama said that everyone making$200,000Then Joe Biden said it wasbut Gov. Richardson said
Then there is the famous claim that "95 percent of working Americans" will receive a tax break. However, 95% of Americans would only include those making less than $153,542 per year (which essentially supports Biden's claim).
Nevermind the continual flip-flopping between "tax cut" and "no tax increase."
So exactly where would an Obama administration draw the line? The election has yet to happen and the taxation message out of the Obama/Biden camp has changed more often then there are days remaining until the election. Is this the type of change we want - continually changing positions on the issues? Perhaps next the limit for a tax increase will be near the poverty level so EVERYONE sees a tax increase. Again, I ask, "is this really the 'change' we want??"
Bloomberg.com: Obama May Levy $15 Billion Tax on Oil Company Profit
The great Obama wants to place a windfall tax on oil profits; a 20% tax on barrels of oil costing over $80. Hillary wants to levy a similar but lower tax on oil companies. Now just who in the hell do these dopes think will end up paying these windfall taxes?
The oil companies will pass the additional tax cost onto the consumer. Why is this so hard to understand? Taxes increase costs and decrease productivity. Its really pretty simple.
Expect to pay even more at the pump!
My suggestions, lower taxes for everyone, including business, and let's drill like a banshee in Alaska! Also, build a few more refineries. THEN gas prices will go down.
I'm not sure where this picture originated but it was sent to me by a friend. It sums up my feelings about tax season and the IRS.
Citizens Against Government Waste releases a yearly report called the Congressional Pig Book. This report details how the people which we elect (and often reelect) waste OUR tax money on pet projects and earmarks. You can buy the complete report on their website here. I am going to purchase a copy. They do have a summary file, the 2008 Congressional Pig Book Summary, which is in .pdf form and can be downloaded for free. It is OUR money, its taken from us at the point of a gun and we have very little say as to where or how OUR money is spent.
From the free version:
"The 1,188 projects, totaling $2.8 billion, in this year’s Congressional Pig Book Summary symbolize the most egregious and blatant examples of pork. As in previous years, all of the items in the Congressional Pig Book Summary meet at least one of CAGW’s seven criteria, but most satisfy at least two:
• Requested by only one chamber of Congress;
• Not specifically authorized;
• Not competitively awarded;
• Not requested by the President;
• Greatly exceeds the President’s budget request or the previous year’s funding;
• Not the subject of congressional hearings; or
• Serves only a local or special interest."
I will concur that a select few of the projects listed may be worthwhile and I may not have included them in my list of pork. However, there are some real "doozies" in there and I think taxpayers should know where THEIR money is going.
Interestingly it appears that the presumptive republican nominee, John McCain, requested ZERO earmarks. Hmmmm.....I am beginning to like him more and more each day.
However, 2 of the biggest porkers aren't pleased with the public knowing where OUR money is being spent. From the free summary version:
'"Those peckerwoods don't know what they're doing. They don't. They're not being realistic.' The King of Pork, Senator Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) on National Public Radio, July 19, 2001......'All they are is a bunch of psychopaths.' CAGW 'Oinker' Senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) Associated Press, December 26, 1999."
I guess wanting to know where MY tax money is being spent makes me a "peckerwood" and a "psychopath." Fine, I can live with that. I've been called worse things by better people than Robert K.K.K. Byrd and Ted Stevens. I was surprised to see that Robert KKK Byrd didn't have an earmark for "sheet" cleaning.
Apparently, a number of countries already have introduced the Flat Tax to try to boost economic growth. Since the mid-1990s, Estonia (24% tax rate), Latvia (25%) and Lithuania (33%) have had a flat tax system in place. Russia (13% flat tax), Slovakia (19%), Romania (16%), Macedonia (12% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit), and Ukraine (15%) also have a flat tax in place. Albania may implement a 10% flat tax this coming year.
Could a "radical" simplified tax code ever come to be in America? Everyone else seems to be giving it a try, why not the US? I'm not sure whether I prefer the Fair Tax or the Flat Tax but something needs to be done about the tax rates and tax system in America!
The Hoover institution has been big on the Flat Tax and have published the following book: The Flat Tax by
I think I might have to make a book purchase as soon as I am done reading the The FairTax Book and FairTax: The Truth: Answering the Critics.
I just went over to the FairTax website and used their FairTax calculator to see how things would change for my family and myself come tax time.
Based on my family's current income with the Fair Tax, I'd get
4.79% MORE spendable income,
$1,288.77 MORE purchasing power,
$3,962.66 LESS in federal taxes.
Considering that one of my biggest pet peeves is our over taxation, this is a considerable improvement. And just for the record, my family is solid middle class.
This is certainly better than our current, bloated IRS and our ridiculous and complicated tax code.
