Taxes

Payroll tax, gasoline tax, property tax, school tax, wheel tax, capital gains tax, income tax, excise tax, sales tax, estate tax, gift tax, generation skipping tax, state unemployment tax, worker compensation tax, cigarette tax, Medicare tax, building permit tax, luxury tax, road usage tax, toll road tax, marriage license, dog license, and fishing licence taxes just to name a few. The average American works until June just to pay his/her taxes for the year. Seriously, enough already!

Our taxation system needs reform - in my opinion more than our health care system does. Through the IRS website, users can download over 1,000 different forms. During tax time, tax preparation stands pop up more often than lemonade stands in the middle of July. In my hometown (and I'm sure yours too), customers walking into Wal-Mart pass a Jackson Hewitt booth just inside the doorway, characters dressed like Uncle Sam or the Statue of Liberty wave in customers at Liberty Tax, and the H&R Block parking lots are packed at all times of the day and night. Unfortunately, these places are making money off of tax payers because the system is too complicated for the average American to both figure out all of the loop holes and insure they have filed everything correctly on their own.

The problem (at least one of them) is; there shouldn't be any loop holes. And, you certainly shouldn't have to search for the ones you are eligible for. Of course what I call loop holes many would call deductions. The list of these deductions is just as long as the list of taxes. Tax payers can take deductions for medical mileage, student loan interest, jury pay, job hunting costs, health insurance premiums, alcoholism or drug abuse treatments, union dues, investments, home improvements, legal fees, theft, lead paint removal, and the list goes on and on.

Many people would disagree with me calling these "loop holes" and I understand that - you're merely taking what you're being offered. But when you think of loop holes, you generally think of trying to get out of something; trying to find a way around something. Well, that's exactly what these deductions are - a way around paying more in taxes. Now, I am not saying that we shouldn't take them. Just the opposite, if the government wants to give me a little extra money, I will fill out the necessary forms to take it. What I am saying is that these shouldn't even be an option, shouldn't be available for us to take.

Before anyone reads that and says that I am trying to raise taxes by eliminating deductions let me say that that is only a start of what needs to be done. I believe very strongly in a flat tax that would not only take away deductions available to us but also eliminate many of the taxes required by us.

A flat tax would allow for only one standard deduction based on the number of dependants the filer is claiming. One flat rate would be used for all tax payers as opposed to the six different brackets that we currently use. All tax payers could fill out their entire income tax on a post card sized form rather than the 1,000 plus forms currently used by the IRS. This of course would drastically reduce the number of IRS employees needed thus freeing up millions of dollars in federal salaries.