Tax time comes around again. I'm reminded because I just changed my order to the 2007 version of TurboTax, which is a software application that takes me through federal and Pennsylvania tax return preparation. The damn tax code has become so complex that you really need either a good accountant or a tax package to get it right.
Taxes are everywhere, on everything. Federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, federal death tax, Medicaid, state income tax, sales tax state, stateInheritance Tax ... Let me breath. Some cities or districts you will get an income tax or a wage tax or maybe even a sales tax. Then there are the smaller but still irritating levies like federal and state gasoline taxes, vehicle registration, state taxes, to say the hotel room occupancy tax (taxation without representation!) And the Federal Telephone Taxes (Check out your phone to girlfriend Federal Subscriber Line Charge and the smaller but still irritating FederalUniversal Service Fee). And if you have a small business, well, I do not want you in.
Taxes when you earn, they tax you when you decide to purchase and taxes, you die if you. Whatever you do, the taxman has his hand in his pocket. If they could figure out how to do it, they would tax your bodily functions. Perhaps a small ad on the toilet. Two cents per flush. Wireless, of course.
And do you think about the skillions of hours that are wasted on tax planning, preparation and collection. TaxLawyers, accountants, tax software, IRS employees, state and local tax collectors, they are all working day and night on our taxes. While you're sleeping innocently in your bed, an IRS computer is the choice for an examination. And if you are looking for in a hotel, you're paying taxes to sleep, while IRS computer is humming away. Your government at work.
I read somewhere that pay the top half of wage earners, 96% of federal tax expenditures, while the lower half pays 4%. The principle thata person with a larger income should pay more in taxes is fair, but 96% seems a little excessive. Any citizen with a decent income, it seems to me that something should be paid in taxes. Even if only a few dollars deducted from each payroll, at least as much as you're holding up your page.
My personal choice would be for a flat income tax. No tax on the first twenty-five grand, then 15% on everything thereafter. Or something like that. Allow a couple of deductions such as spouses and children,Mortgage and medical technology. Keep it really simple, so that a normal person of their return could not scream file. That's right, tax prep would be no scream zone. Perhaps not even curse ... OK, I lost my head. Anyway, I enjoy cursing at my return.
It is interesting that our government has too much money and yet not enough. A duality of quantum mechanics that an interested researcher. Here the question: is the government needs more money for entitlements such as Social Security and FundMedicare, but a large tax increase might plunge the economy into recession. And recessions are not good for incumbent politicians.
The simple truth is that people should be allowed, the bulk of the money they deserve to keep them. They know what they need, better than a government bureaucrat. Plus, a trader can hold more, the more likely it is to invest their money in a small business, and that is what drives the economy. JFK knew that and so was Reagan and Bush, 43rd
Receivables areout of control. Already Medicare has more money going out will benefit as a tax on Social Security is still in the black, but economists predict 2017 as the date it goes into the red. To finance these deficits, the government has increased the borrowing, raise taxes or divert money from other programs. These are not good alternatives, why do not we try to remedy to these creaky old programs. To put it bluntly, they suck. No rational young person would invest his money inSocial Security, if he had any other choice. Let's fix the damn thing! Unfortunately, it is not going to happen. Here's a bold prediction - they are finally together a bipartisan blue ribbon, lip smacking panel of old pols and they will recommend to ... hold your breath ... Increase in social security taxes.
Let's face it, we are fifty plus citizens are demanding. We support coughed money earlier generations, so we want our fair share of the benefits when we get older. Without thisEntitlements, many baby boomers have a hard retirement. If you can afford to retire to.
But let's be fair and look at it from the perspective of the twenty something working stiff. The ratio of pensioners to workers is getting worse from year to year. A young guy or gal has forty or fifty years to pay more Social Security taxes. They are not happy, and I do not blame them. Increased, especially when the benefits are back or the retirement age to cut, say, 112 I am all for the workwith these youngsters, so we cut them a fair treatment. As long as you do not touch MY retirement.
How can we cut taxes? The government has to find a way to fund Social Security, Medicare and other entitlements. This is the biggest part of the federal budget. We certainly need the Defense and State departments and to some extent, the regulatory authorities. Because cut is not much, but there are a few things that make no sense.
Make use of agricultural subsidies. Why thefrack we pay farmers not to grow food? (Love the sound of the word frack - got it from "Battlestar Galactica"), these subsidies go into the pockets of the big, rich agricultural enterprises. It is not 1930, with Oakie's starving on their small farms. Agriculture is big business, such as insurance, computer, or finances. If we do not have to pay Microsoft to develop software? No jokes, please, I try only to a point to make.
Then there are the natural disasters like Katrina. I'm forRelief, but the government went way overboard. I read that more than 80 billion U.S. dollars has been committed already. Well, if you are below sea level or on the coast, want to live okay, you can give a chance, but do not expect the taxpayers to build your home again when a flood washes it. At least fracking Buy Flood Insurance. It is cheap subsidized (government, of course). Can you believe they are rebuilding New Orleans without improving the taxes! Who pays when it floodsagain? Spell taxpayers.
We therefore need a way, the cost of providing the required services can decrease, while the elimination of handouts. There is no solution unless the entitlement programs are structured, and I will discuss this in future contributions.
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