Paying Taxes

Anyone who says that we should not pay taxes clearly does not understand the complex infrastructure of American society. Taxes are a necessary evil of everyday life as we know it. Taxes pay for the police hired to protect us, the politicians elected to represent us and the schools paid to teach us. This country could not function without a tax structure in place.

Yet, a closer look shows just how flawed this country's tax structure is. Think about the MILLIONS of dollars spent on IRS worker wages. Then look at the leased buildings the IRS uses and the office supplies they go through. Ever wonder how much tax money is spent on those trusty tax booklets every year? Tax audits are time consuming, costly ordeals. Plus, taxes tend to be a major topic of debate every election, whether it is about cutting middle-class taxes or giving tax breaks to the wealthy.

Why is it so hard for our politicians to see that the only fair tax system is not one based on income but rather one based on the sale of purchased items? This eliminates the argument over which class of citizen should pay more. It eliminates the massive overhead of the IRS and it eliminates the tax evasion of drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, illegal aliens and any other class of people who obtain their money illegally.

If everyone had to pay sales tax on all non-food items, we could eliminate all payroll deductions (except Social Security). We could then charge sales tax to business which purchase goods for stock (so that corporations do not get excluded from paying taxes. Individuals making less than $25,000 per year could receive a $2,500 tax credit while eliminating all other tax breaks.

To me, this just simply makes more sense...

I have to credit a good portion of this idea to a friend of mine. Although we do not always see eye to eye when it comes to politics, he has a great common-sense view of many issues.

Bail Me Out

The United States government is in the business of bailing out banks, insurance companies, individual states and now automakers! Our tax-payer dollars are are paying for the bad mistakes that these companies have made at the hands of executives who continued to get rich, even as their company was losing money. How does this make sense?

We must first look at the true problem at hand... people are not spending money because people have less money to spend. It is a vicious cycle... people make less money, so they spend less money, so the companies who depend on people spending money don't make as much, so they don't pay as much, so their employees spend less money...

The solution should not be to give giant corporations money. The general public needs the money so that they will spend it. I think that the government needs to implement a public bail-out plan. Start government issued rebates for everyone who purchases a vehicle. Allow people to take a tax credit for 1/4 or even 1/2 of the car's total cost. This will act as an incentive for the consumer to purchase a vehicle, thus bailing out the auto industry while benefiting the every-day consumer.

And how about a federal aid fund for those who are losing their homes? Instead of bailing out the banks that now own foreclosed homes, why doesn't the government instead offer a form of welfare for people stuck in the up-swing of their ARM loan?

These are just real solutions that make real sense to me...