Fair Taxation Discussions Began Centuries Ago and Remain Unresolved

The IRS is a mess. America’s tax system is a complete failure. The tax code is 6,550 pages long. It is impossible for any one person to fully comprehend any document(s) composed of such a lengthy set of rules and regulations. Also, there are changes every year.

Many of the pages are focused on the rich. They contain information about deductions and tax incentives. I am a simple man but I see no reason for a document with the single purpose of allowing our wealthiest citizens to pay less tax than what is reasonable.

Currently, America’s largest corporations and wealthiest one percent frequently pay a lower percentage of tax than a middle-class family. This was Trump’s only “accomplishment.” The year following his tax cuts for the rich, Walmart and Amazon paid zero dollars as revealed by their tax returns.

President Biden is proposing a “fair tax” which will require our wealthiest citizens to pay their fair share of taxes. However, I have little faith that it will become a reality. Our government is currently a plutocracy. The entire right-wing of our nation’s politics created this situation in exchange for campaign contributions and other “perks.” I do not foresee a realistic change coming in my lifetime.

Suggestions offering a system that would be fair and eliminate the need for the IRS have been offered multiple times but have been rejected by congress. Each of them would require the one percent to become Americans and pay their fair share.

One proposal was a “flat tax.” A rate would be established with only a few brackets with no deductions. Everyone would pay some tax based only on income, no exceptions.

Another idea was a national federal sales tax. This would have replaced the IRS entirely as it exists today. Every item purchased by all Americans would be taxed, with the exception of food and prescription medication. However, the wealthy complained. If they purchased another 40-million-dollar mansion, they would be required to pay taxes. There would also be a tax on every $400 bottle of wine served with their dinner.

America is missing one important human trait, common sense. Our government constantly searches for ways to complicate our lives and discard everything which would make things easier. It thrives on paperwork. For example, when I worked for the 2010 Decennial Census it was intended to be an operation conducted by handheld computers. They never worked properly. In late 2010, it was my responsibility to send all of the paperwork from our office to the permanent census office in Maryland. From our one office in Reno, we shipped eight large pallets of nothing but paper. There were hundreds of offices across America.

Fact: in the 1950s and 1960s, when the economy was booming, the wealthiest Americans paid a top income tax rate of 91%. Today, the top rate is 43.4%, but no one pays that percentage after legal deductions.

Income inequality is a growing problem and will eventually destroy our nation’s economy. The very existence of our nation depends on consumerism. If working-class America does not contribute to the economy with the purchase of goods and services, capitalism will fail. This is the danger of a plutocracy. At the core of this problem is one word, greed.

When Reagan left office in 1989, the national debt had risen to one-trillion dollars. His economic policy reduced taxes for the wealthy in what has become known as “trickle-down economics.” George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump used the same policy and our national debt is nearly 30 trillion dollars today. Taxes are a necessity.

Our government has failed the working man and woman since the days after the death of FDR. He was the people’s president. Those who followed him forgot that they serve the people, not vice versa.

Op-ed by James Turnage
Edited by Marrissa Kay

My nine novels are available on Amazon’s Kindle.

Sources:

Daily Kos: Biden’s wealth tax makes billionaires pay their fair share. It’s good policy, and it’s good politics; by Ian Reifowitz
Americans For Tax Fairness: Fact Sheet: Taxing Wealthy Americans

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Victoria Pickering’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image Courtesy of Victoria Pickering’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License