A fair tax system

Much is being made in politics and the media about the fiscal future of the Untied States of America. Depending on your political party or ideological leanings, you have even been "prepped" on what to believe. But what about those who are truly independent, middle of the road, or just (sadly) plain uniformed? I have news for you, the word "crisis" is for real, whether it is politically correct and expedient to mention so or not.

Without going into boring economic and accounting figures that no one really understands (and which are generally always slanted for a particular argument), I will say that if you do a little searching on the internet, you can find volumes of good analyses about Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the like. If you read what you believe to be non-political studies and research and are intellectually honest with yourself, you will come to a very simple conclusion: There is no way that the American taxpayer can or should be asked to pay the bills that our government has created in the last half century or so.

It is a basic fact that the entitlement programs that are in place will eventually cripple the economy of the United States. Again, do a bit of research and be intellectually honest about it. Each side postures and demagogues these issues relentlessly in an attempt to "secure votes" and win over other interest groups, etc. And if you go through a 2.5 TRILLION dollar lean budget, my guess is that every American can find a few items to cut.

We have a major problem here...regardless of political party, the government spends too much. They spend money that they do not have...OUR MONEY!

We can again debate the merits of all of these programs, what should be cut (more likely have increases reduced) and how wrong and evil one party or the other is "to the children". That has been regurgitated past nausea for me, however. BUT, I have come up with a fair solution for everyone. It won't cripple any particular group of taxpayers, won't unfairly award others, and could provide for the entitlements and give-aways that politicians so love, fairly...remember, we are being intellectually honest.

We need to reform the tax system and it needs to be a serious reform. I am not sure of what we would go to, but I feel a flat-tax income tax is the best and it serves my proposal better. Everyone pay, say 15% income tax. We can set up a reasonable poverty level and exempt certain people to be sure. However, we would likely need to guard against fraud in that area, but it is possible. So, we have a flat tax system which would be policed by a lean Internal Revenue Service to catch people who are somehow cheating the system in reporting actual income. That standard could be set similar to how it is done now, where high paid CEO's etc. can't claim artificially low income but have to be in the realm of a "market average". Plus, contractual deferments could be factored in by the IRS (much like the NFL salary cap) so the "the rich" couldn't defer enormous amounts of money to get out of paying taxes (does Teresa Heinz come to mind?). I realize that you may think this is far-fetched, but there are much greater minds who devote themselves to tax reform out there and they have it figured out...trust me.

So what "new" do I have to say? After developing a fair flat income-tax...make extra taxation voluntary.

WHAT?!

We have developed into an entitlement nation. No one looks out for themselves but expects someone to do it for them. Perhaps that someone is the union or another group. But, it is generally the good ol' US Government which is really "We the Taxpayer". So, make extra tax paying voluntary. You make $475k a year and pay your roughly $71k in taxes, but you are truly worried about the baby boomers...drop an extra $25k into voluntary tax and specify the Social Security fund for your extra donation. I would think that the Hollywood types could really get behind this. We could take care of everyone and they could be seen in all of their star-studded glory giving extra and could then use their bully pulpit to tell everyone how great they are. (Research the estimated $50 million that Michael Moore made from FarenHype 9/11. How about a few bucks for the poor people of Michigan, Mike?) But would they really give? A US Senator or Representative could solicit those special handouts he needs for his constituents by convincing a colleague and that colleague's constituency that they should give extra to fund this much needed program to help his people. Not to bash the Terminator, but didn't he just go make this case in Washington DC a week ago? Arnold wants a proportionate amount of what is paid by Californians to go back to California. Well, shy of not paying the tax to the feds to begin with, perhaps a better way of getting this money would be to tap the better-than-well-off's on the Left coast to give that extra to help their own. I know what you're thinking. First, this smacks of "charity" and not a fair tax system. Second, it almost could lead to a return of State's rights (God forbid!) when it comes to governance in this country. What is a true, patriotic believer in limited government to do?

Now, what about the "poor people" and the underprivileged areas? What about them? The true socialists, excuse me, progressives in this country can rally for any cause that they want...remember, it is voluntary. Think tsunami relief concert, all day, every day. What could be better than that!

This is about being fair, promoting the will to be successful (read: make more money), and the eventual consequences that an expanding tax base could provide. It is also about the tax and spenders in this country taking their hands out of the wallets of those they represent and finding real, affordable solutions. And lastly, it is about ending the socialistic process of redistribution of wealth in this country and making those who put up (with our money) shut up and do something real to fix a problem. It is really that simple. Perhaps everyone should write to their elected representatives on all levels and suggest that they think about this, and be intellectually honest as they do so.