Why Aren't Our Taxes Simpler To Understand? (Congress, attorneys, Obama)
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Let's turn the question around to get the answer. "What tax breaks/deductions are YOU PERSONALLY willing to give up to make the system simpler?" Mortgage interest? Property tax? Retirement contributions? Child tax deductions/allowances? Earned income tax credit?
If your answer is "None", well...that's everyone else's answer, too.
We can put a dozen men on the moon but we can't simplify our tax code?
Because if it was easy then people wouldn't need accountants, tax lawyers and all the firms that prepare taxes to do it for them. It's an enormous industry with a lot of political clout.
It's the same thing for most professions, they all push for legislation just to make it hard to keep themselves in business. Even big business does it, they will often support regualtions of their industry only because it helps eliminate the small guy.
Let's turn the question around to get the answer. "What tax breaks/deductions are YOU PERSONALLY willing to give up to make the system simpler?" Mortgage interest? Property tax? Retirement contributions? Child tax deductions/allowances? Earned income tax credit?
If your answer is "None", well...that's everyone else's answer, too.
Get rid of all of them. Drop the income tax to 0% for the lowest income bracket, say up to $10K for example. Use a progressive tax rate maximum of 10% that tops out at $50K. Make $50K? Make a million? It's 10%.
Supplement that with a flat sales tax on everything except for energy for your house, food, clothing and housing.
They're not that hard if you're not an idiot. Sorry for your condition.
Actually depending on your individual situation taxes can be very complex and I have anMBA and worked one tax season as a volunteer preparer. I also several years back had an unusual situation that required me to dig into the tax code to try to figure out how to correctly put on my forms. That was the only time that I had to give up and take to a CPA. I wondered how a high school dropout would be able to negotiate the tax code when I with an MBA couldn't decipher it!
So the only reason tax attorneys, tax accountants and H&R Block exist is because every working American (except you, of course) is a dolt?
...Assuming you have little bit more involved than Joe Schmoe you can take your taxes to these three different entities and get three different results.
Let's turn the question around to get the answer. "What tax breaks/deductions are YOU PERSONALLY willing to give up to make the system simpler?" Mortgage interest? Property tax? Retirement contributions? Child tax deductions/allowances? Earned income tax credit?
If your answer is "None", well...that's everyone else's answer, too.
Every single one.
Period.
I'd rather pay a flat 8% - 10% on GROSS income than try to navigate thousands of arcane rules and traps.
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