by Ken Hoagland
In a little over a month Americans will have to again file their tax returns and many will once again be reminded that no other public policy so reinforces a perception of self-dealing, unfairness and incompetence as the corrupted federal income tax code.
Bloated beyond decipherability at 67,500 pages of regulations, the income tax system is driven by personal power, lobby profits and, through tax inducements and penalties, a changing menu of citizen and business manipulation.
It’s so complicated that both the Secretary of the Treasury and the Chairman of the Congressional Committee writing tax laws got their own tax returns wrong. Just obeying federal tax laws costs taxpayers more than $300 billion a year in compliance costs and the system comes up $350 billion short annually of what is actually owed. It’s so unfair that Warren Buffet’s salary-earning secretary pays a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss.
Married people pay higher rates than singles living together, income is commonly double and tripled taxed, and Congress’ error in failing to index the Alternative Minimum Tax for inflation now threatens to define as “wealthy” those with as little as $80,000 annual income. Somehow, in a country that defined the separation of church and state, the tax code is so intrusive that pastors are told what they can and can’t say from the pulpit.
And while millions of Americans suffer unemployment and our economy is struggling to recover, the tax code self-destructively gives foreign competitors significant producer cost advantages over American companies. It gets worse–small American businesses, the hope for employment growth, see $700 compliance costs for every $100 in taxes paid according to recent studies and every new hire requires significant new FICA taxes.
But “so what?” is the attitude from Congressional offices where selling off pieces of the code has become big business. The perennial promises that “something must be done” are never fulfilled. Last April 15th, for example, President Obama said: “I want every American to know that we will rewrite the tax code [to] make it easier, quicker and less expensive for you to file a return, so that April 15th is not a date that is approached with dread every year.” Anyone heard anything more about this?
It’s not for lack of a strong public desire for a radical solution to the obviously broken national tax system.
Two years ago, the under-funded Mike Huckabee caught tax reform lightning in an Iowa bottle and was catapulted to a first place finish there. Mitt Romney and John McCain were burned by the same lightning when they repeated the same old tired and now unbelievable income tax reform promises.
No, the election there did not turn only on tax reform but Mike Huckabee electrified voters when he made the FairTax, a national consumption tax to replace the broken income tax system, a center plank of his campaign. That decision marked Huckabee as one of the first current politicians to turn his back on what is increasingly seen as self-dealing in Washington that damages the future of the nation and the best interests of individual citizens.
For a growing number of Americans the solution is the FairTax. It broadens the taxpayer base, raises every penny now raised but in a way that helps, rather than hurts, the national economy. It shifts federal taxes from what makes the economy grow–work, savings and investment–to what comes out of the economy–consumption. Experts say that freeing American manufacturing and labor from taxation will make the United States a magnet for trillions of dollars of new investment, now offshore, which can and will produce immediate growth and desperately needed jobs.
While people may disagree on the best solution, there is widespread understanding that the American people cannot win back control of their government until the federal tax system is either repaired or ripped out by the roots and replaced.
The federal tax system is very good for those in Washington but damages the economy and bedevils every taxpayer. The political class was surprised by the tea party movement. They risk being surprised again by the growing demand for an entirely new, fairer, simpler, uncorrupted tax code.
Ken Hoagland, author of “The FairTax Solution”, is chairman of the Online Tax Revolt, which is organizing a march on Washington on April 15, and the FairTax national victory campaign. More information can be found at www.onlinetaxrevolt.com
Fireworks will color the night skies across America, replicating the “rocket’s red glare…”.
We’ve got a big adventure in the works and we’d like you all to rest up. Drink a lot of water and get some sleep – because we’ll need all the energy you’ve got for our next endeavor. While you’re resting, this would be a perfect time to 
