With high hopes for the coming year, I've already started to think about my favourite annual activity: the dreaded Tax Return!
Like so many other good people in this great country of ours, I will wait until the last minute to send in my tax return for this year. I told myself last year that things would be different this year. I would try to get them off before the last-minute rush.
Is this really the best system our great and wonderful leaders can come up with in this day and age? After all, we live in a world where a satellite can read a licence plate from miles away. We can access the Internet on our cell phones and download TV shows we might have missed (or just want to save onto our iPods).
In 1913, our first tax laws were made. They were simple and easy to understand. We had tax brackets that ranged from 1% to 7%, which is a long way from where we are now. There are now more than 9 million words in the IRS tax codes, rules, and guidelines. So much confusion is to be expected. Does anyone really get what this monster is all about?
Let's put this in a different light:
There are a little more than 1300 words in the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution, which has been good to us for more than 200 years, is about 5000 words long. There are less than 800,000 words in the Holy Bible.
In 2004, the Office of Management and Budget thought that the country spent more than $200 billion on compliance costs. At a time when the manufacturing industries, which are the backbone of any good economy, are all struggling against cheaper imports, shouldn't our leaders use that money to create "jobs" for their citizens? Most experts agree that $200 billion would create well over 3 million jobs. This, in turn, would lead to more jobs and sales taxes at the state level as people bought more goods.
When we wake up in the morning, taxes hit us right away. Everyone wants some of the money we've worked hard for. Turn on the lights (tax on electricity), run the shower (tax on utilities), and my personal favourite, the telephone taxes, all 6 million of them (that's what it seems like every time I get a phone bill). We're so used to giving them money that we don't even think about it anymore.
Is it time for a simple tax that everyone can understand, like a flat rate? Many countries around the world have used this easy-to-understand and cost-effective way to collect taxes to help their economies grow. Just for a moment, let's think about what it would be like if we could fill out our tax returns on one simple sheet of paper.
There would be a flat tax rate for people and a flat tax rate for businesses. Everyone has to follow the same rules, no matter how much money they make. We all pay the same amount. Most countries that are doing well have flat-rate taxes that are less than 17 percent and start at a level that protects people with less money.
Could life ever again be that easy? The real question is whether or not our leaders want us to know what they are doing. The lobbyists are another group. Well, at least it was fun while it lasted.
Benjamin Franklin once said, "In this world, only death and taxes can be said to be certain."
Write to me if you want to share your thoughts or ask me a question.
The Money That's "Yours" by Carl Hampton
From "From Credit Despair to Credit Millionaire" author.
