| Over the past four years,
the tax code has become even more
burdensome and complex. Taxes now exceed
the cost of food, clothing, shelter, and
transportation combined for the average
household. The tax burden should decline
during times of prosperity and peace.
However, since World War II, federal
taxes have risen to their highest level
and now consume more than 20 percent of
the national economic output. The American Voice
Institute of Public Policy believes along
with the vast majority of Americans that
the current tax code should be eliminated
and replaced by a simple and fair system
like the flat tax that treats all
taxpayers equally.
Incomes
would only be taxed one time by a flat
tax and would eliminate confusing and
discriminating special interest
preferences in the Internal Revenue Code
because of one low rate. On work, savings,
investment, risk-taking, and
entrepreneurship, it would reduce tax
rates. The billions of hours that are
currently required annually to comply
with the maze of tax forms, regulations,
rules, and other requirements would
decline because of its simplicity. Also,
the potential for bureaucratic abuses
that led to the 1997 and 1998 widely-publicized
congressional hearings on the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) would virtually be
eliminated.
The most
reprehensible aspect of the current tax
code for many Americans is its powerful
and political influence over individuals
to manipulate the tax system for their
own advantage.
Many
taxpayers understandably want to protect
their earnings since the tax burden is at
record levels. However, a pervasive sense
of unfairness is fostered by the system
of loopholes, credits, deductions and
exemptions. A flat tax would uphold the
moral principle that to everyone the law
should apply equally as a result of
eliminating special preferences.
Growth and
job creation have been rendered powerless
and ineffective by excessive levels of
taxation that stifle incentives to work,
save and invest in other nations,
particularly in Europe. This precedent
should not be allowed to be followed by
the United States even though its tax
code is far less oppressive. This only
would add to this dangerously
counterproductive trend.
|
