Fair Tax Reform

The current tax policy in the United States is very confusing and it is very costly for our government to administer it. It is in the best interest of our country and its citizens to revise or replace our current tax policy.

Tax evasion will no longer be possible because everyone will be paying taxes when they spend. In addition, the national sales tax is progressive meaning that the tax base will expand to include illegal immigrants and the underground economy. Although the bill does gather more support than the flat tax which proposes to make everyone pay the same rate of income tax, it remains very unlikely this legislation will pass because of the criticism it receives.

First off, there are many people who do not even know what a flat tax is. By definition, a flat tax is described as, “a very precisely defined and coherent tax structure: a combination of a cash-flow tax on business income and a tax on workers’ income, both levied at the same, single rate” (Keen 4). Now, this just means that every person and every business, no matter the income, would be taxed at the same rate. Realistically speaking, when people talk about taxes, it is a matter of who wins and who loses. If we decided to adopt a flat tax system, people of lower income families would be suffering, “Under the flat tax, low-income households would lose because they now pay no income tax and are eligible for a refundable EITC of up to $3,370” (Gale 155). With this being said, the families of higher income would actually be thriving of a system

People do not enjoy talking about taxes because they are too political, confusing, and depressing. It is no secret that the American tax code is a mess and something many economists describe as too broken to fix. Despite this, politicians have never stopped from trying to “fix” the code, yet they have had very little success. The U.S. Government’s tax code currently comprises “more than 67,000 pages of complexities” (Boortz, Linder, & Woodall 14). The Americans for Fair Taxation (AFFT) was founded in 1995 with one goal: create the simplest and best tax reform plan that would work in the modern market and economy. The AFFT’s best solution was a bill which they promptly called the FairTax.

The Fair Tax Plan is a sales tax proposal to replace the current U.S. income tax structure. It would allow all taxpayers to pay the same amount of tax, whether they are wealthy or poor. The current tax code has over 60,000 pages, which wealthy people can afford to hire someone to find loop holes that will keep them from having to pay taxes; whereas someone poor wouldn’t be able to afford someone to help them find loop holes, causing them to have to pay taxes no matter what. The fair tax plan code is about 132 pages which allows for greater transparency and understanding for both the wealthy and poor, and it would allow everyone to pay the same tax rate on things they buy. Many view this as a negative aspect because sales tax will be increasingly

The governments in any country use various taxation systems to raise funds to fund its national projects. The most common tax system is the income tax whereby the government raises funds from individual’s earnings. However, in the past few years, there has been heated debate about the adverse effects of progressive income tax on productivity and a proposal to replace it with national sales tax (Hodge, 2017). The national sales tax also known as the fair tax is intended to replace the current income tax and the idea is to enable the government to generate income from consumptions as opposed to earnings. This document examines the positives and negatives of the proposed national sales tax on the U.S. economy. The suggestion to impose a tax on consumption rather than consumption aims at encouraging savings and investments to improve productivity and promote economic growth. It is expected to promote fairness in the taxation because individuals will pay according to what they consume and not what they earn.

Our current income tax system today is very complex, unfair, inhibits saving, investment and job creation, imposes a heavy burden on families, and weakens the integrity of the democratic process. It can't be fixed and must be replaced. The U.S. income tax code is a long and complex system. The income tax system is so complex; the IRS publishes 480 tax forms and 280 forms to explain the 480 forms. The IRS sends out eight billion pages of forms and instructions each year. The administrative costs of the tax system far exceed those borne directly by the IRS. Each year Americans devote 5.4 billion hours complying with the tax code, which is more time than it takes to build every car, truck, and van produced in the U.S.

"A revolutionary change in our tax system is fundamental to re-energizing the American economy and restoring the American dream" (Moore 1). Currently, there are two major plans being considered to try and fix the tax system in the United States. These two plans are the Flat Tax and the National Retail Sales Tax. "Both the Flat Tax and a National Sales Tax would replace today's discriminatory tax structure with a single low rate. Either plan would promote the kind of capital formation that America needs to boost workers' incomes and raise long-term economic growth" (Mitchell 1). This means that the flat tax would take away the savings from the government and pass them on to the citizens and businesses. By doing this, there would be a rise in long-term economic growth.

Furthermore, according to the Carroll, The Internal Revenue Service is aware that business and individual taxpayers spend more than 6 billion hours per year to comply with the tax system. A flat tax would use two forms with simple instructions, one form for business and capital income and another for labor income. There is a whole industry created just to comply with current tax codes of tax lawyers, tax accountants, tax planners, tax filers, tax collectors and tax scholars. A flat tax would be based on two forms, the business income, and wages income. There would be no special interest loopholes, tax shelters and compensation for workers not considered “Wages” that enable the current biased and discriminatory system to operate. As an example, income that is not paid in wages or directly reinvested into the business through maintenance of equipment and facilities, expansion of productivity through new equipment and facilities would be taxed at nineteen percent. The same that wages would be taxed at nineteen percent, no confusing deductions, credits or exemptions, just a flat tax.

In response to the need, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 was enabled. The reform was intended to be revenue neutral, but broaden the tax base previously held. Congress had depressed marginal rates, and concurrently got rid of tax shelters, tax preferences, and other opportunities for tax avoidance. It now seems what worked as great solution in the past is not working now, “The Tax Reform Act of 1986 has not proved a stable outcome: Congress has since narrowed the tax base and raised income tax rates. Internationalization of the economy raises the question of whether corporate income taxes can be relied upon as a stable source of revenues. Moreover, the tax system is also under continual reexamination because federal deficits of $300–$400 billion a year are now commonplace…” (Greatz, 2007, p.

The Senate bill would adjust the seven individual income tax brackets, a change that would phase out by 2026. The corporate tax rate would be cut from 35 to 20 percent, and "pass-through" businesses would be taxed at 23 percent.

Taxes in this country help pay for many government and state programs. Right now we have seven tax bracket tax plan for income tax. The plan is based on how much you make, the more you make the higher the present. Paul’s plan calls for a fourteen point five present flat tax no matter how much income you make. The plan also includes a $15000 deduction and a $5000 per a person personal exemption. Retirements accounts would stay the same and still keep mortgage and charitable deductions along with child tax deductions. For business, it would be a fourteen point nine percent business transfer tax that would be levied on factors of production and capital income. The TGM (Taxes and Growth Model) estimates an increased GDP of twelve point nine percent in ten years or about one

Main Point; The US is already in a state of poverty and with the people that have trouble with taxes and now that we added this it is going to be almost impossible for some people to live in this economy with this tax problem. Secondary points; taxes are just to expensive that 's why we need to get rid of foreign aid.

The supporters of the Flat Tax system are quick to point out this system's attributes but not as quickly as the criticisms by those who oppose it. The filing of taxes each year would be much easier because there would be one set rate to pay. This type of system also discourages, and makes it almost impossible, to find and use any existing schemes that are present to avoid paying taxes. However, because there is a set rate at which everyone needs to pay, this system is quite unfair. Those who earn and have a lot of money should not pay the same amount as someone who has only a fraction of their wealth. The wealthier you are, the more you should pay because you can afford it. If there is a set tax rate it would be too high to some people and pocket change to others. A system like this also takes away many, if not all tax deductions. An event like this would cause irreparable injury to the middle class, who often times rely heavily on money they will get back from tax deductions.

We have all heard the famous quote by Benjamin Franklin who stated, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” (“Benjamin Franklin Quotes”) We find this to be true as we begin working and feel the pain of money being taken from our paychecks. Then we face the chore of having to file income taxes yearly. Although there are many taxes we are subject to, most people are referring to federal income tax when they complain about taxes. There has been debate for decades about the current system but there has been no agreement on how to fix it. The United States currently has a progressive tax code which means people pay taxes according to their earnings. This has been in place since the time of Abraham Lincoln. An alternative