[geeks] Taxes

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Phil Stracchino wrote:
>> yeah, but shifting that burden from folks who can't afford to pay to
>> folks who just don't want to is not unfair.
> 
> Personally, assuming retaining an income tax, I'd like to see something 
> like this:
> 
> The government annually publishes a surveyed state-by-state basic cost 
> of living for a family of a given size.  Income below that basic cost of 
> living is tax-free, regardless of how much money you make in total.  All 
> savings interest is also tax-free, no matter how much of it you have. 
> Personal inheritance would not be considered income, any more than 
> insurance settlements are.  All other income, including investment 
> income, above basic cost of living is taxed at a flat 10%.  No 
> deductions, no allowances, no deferments, no shelters, no loopholes. 
> Corporations get taxed at the same flat 10% across the board - and 
> that's 10% of gross revenues, not declared net profit after cooking the 
> books.
> 
> Tax accountants and tax lawyers would scream bloody murder, of course, 
> as would the IRS, since they'd practically become obsolete overnight. 
> But tax returns - personal and corporate both - would become one side of 
> one sheet of paper, that'd take five minutes to fill out.  All the 
> parasitic cost of complying with the current bloated system would just 
> go away, and as a bonus, it would become much easier to detect tax 
> evasion, and most tax fraud cases would be open-and-shut.

To be perfectly honest, I wouldn't mind paying a giant federal VAT if 
there were no income tax.  That would be a powerful incentive for people 
to save their money.  Might not be good for the tax revenue totals, and 
might not be good for the economy (by discouraging spending), but it 
would be good for *me*.

Peace...  Sridhar