you are repeating the usual dribble about the flat tax being regressive. not true. every flat tax has an exemption making the flat tax actually progressive with a top rate.for example a family of four might have an exemption for the first$50,000 a wage earner who makes 100,000 would pay 7500 or 7.5% of his income. the millionaire wouldpay 142,500 or 14.25 of his income.. withholding of wages and interest and dividends would eliminate the need for a vast bureaucracy. no wonder russia and hong kong with a flat tax are booming while the US is sinking under its tax code to a 3rd world status
Happily are you when you read about some rich guy "getting his" from an IRS audit. My how good you feel that the rich guy is forced to pay the largest part of the income tax. He goes into the audit and deals with the IRS through lawyers and accountants to ensure that he is treated fair and that he gets the lowest tax possible. Then while your smiling you or I or someone else that is NOT "rich" get a letter and they have to spend hours and hours of time that would have otherwise been spent with the family jumping through the IRS hoops. * Don't get treated fair - fill out a form * Have to lose work due to the audit - too bad * Make a mistake and end owing taxes - add huge penalties and interest * Don't have all the paperword or can't prove a deduction - too bad, pay the tax (plus penalties and interest)and no vacation for your family that year. My point is that when the weight of the IRS comes down on guys like us you will need to put everything else in your life on hold. All for the government. Perhaps we should all think about the spending side more and force those in office to spend less so we do not even have to talk about an income tax except in school as the bad experiment it was/is BTW, I have never been audited, but I do understand that I don't want to spend hours in one.
Garbage. Why is a flat tax "immoral"??? Cause you don't like it? Wouldn't raise enough revenue?? Who says Government "needs" 1/3rd GDP to begin with?!!? The Federal Gov should be cut to 1/5th its size. Defense, Judicial, Police. Thats it. The Constitution declares no Tax legal unless its apportioned equally. That means a flat tax. Which is the fairest. Up here in Canada, the lowest income bracket pays over 30% in Tax (below 20K). Poor Americans can afford 10% at the Register. The problem isn't Tax Revenue. Its Bureaucratic Parasites terrified someone might put their cushy desk-job on the Block. They don't like that too much.....
Good points. I know of someone that has been audited and i just wish that they had the money in the bank to actually defend themselves! Having seen this myself, i can tell you that the cards are definitely stacked against the taxpayer. The system is set up to make YOU prove that you don't owe the IRS dough. The ENTIRE burden of proof i think is unfairly placed on the taxpayer. Any amount of taxes owed can be magically brought to life by a few keystrokes. That is the same thing as me accusing someone of owing me money and it is up to that individual to PROVE to me that they don't owe it. For example, say you tried to rent out a property(before the real estate collapse) that you own but all you did was put the advertisement on craigslist and didn't have a copy of said ad. The taxpayer is then told by the IRS that hey if you can't prove that you "intended" to rent it then i guess you owe us any sort of number that we can squeeze out of our ass. The taxpayers mistakes in this case were due to the preparer, but guess what, they are responsible for the amount the IRS says the taxpayer owes. Let me not get started about the fact they can audit the years before and after the tax year in dispute. A never ending cycle of fucking the poor guy over because they need the money. Well....i can tell you that the person needs the money also to put food on the table, pay for gas, rent, and many other everyday expenditures. Forget trying to fight them if you have moderate to low income or you lost all your income. They will drag you through the coals knowing full well that you cannot afford to defend yourself in court. It's a catch 22. Fight them in court and pay or don't fight them and still have to pay said amount. I fucking hate their tactics because they understand that most folks will not have ALL of the documents in hand to fight it. And even if you do they'll bring shit up like "intention"...How the hell do you prove intention!!! This is how they have the ability to win over eighty percent of the cases. Shit, with odds like that can someone please refer the guy to an IRS employment agency. The poor folks wouldn't have to worry about income anymore. But i digress, because i'm sounding a little incoherent at the moment. Disclosure: I'm just stating my own perception of events. Oneday
^^^ Thats actually a great point. The Tax Code declares citizens Guilty until proven innocent. By which authority does the IRS get that awesome, yet completely Unconstitutional Power from? What happened to Due Process? And the onus on the Prosecution (IRS) to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt?
Dunno how much was the minimum, but there should be some sort of egregious penalty for being this stupid - in writing: http://s.wsj.net/public/resources/documents/WSJ_UBS_exhibit_memo.pdf
Why is a flat tax immoral? Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Utah all have flat rate income taxes. Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming have no income tax. New Hampshire and Tennessee only tax dividend and interest income. Are all these states immoral?
A lousy $20 billion? And $20 billion in assets, not income? That's a part of a drop in a bucket. Warren Buffet has $60 billion he has never paid taxes on and the IRS is concerned about a lousy $20 billion in Swiss accounts. Why doesn't the IRS spend more time going after the annual $200 billion plus and growing underground economy.
I have to admit that in the end, I was always treated fair by the IRS. I've been examined by them twice. Once I had to cut them a check with interest and penalties, and once they had to cut me a check with interest. Anyway, back to Swiss bank accounts - I understand that under Swiss law a bank has to withhold 35% in taxes from the interest you earn on your deposit. In an American bank you will be paying a lot less in taxes on your interest and it isn't automatically withheld by the bank, you pay it at your leisure as long as you meet the dead line. With that in mind, the only reason I can see to have a Swiss bank account is to keep anybody from knowing you have those assets, not so much to avoid taxation.