Tax Reform

[MODU]

Though a flat tax is enticing, I'd be more in favor of a VAT tax first.  However, the best reform we can have is the removal of most tax deductions.  Clean those out first, see how much more revenue the nation collects as result of it, and then go from there.  The goal would to get the system simplified enough to where a person can log on, input the very fewest of information, and submit to the IRS within 5-10 minutes.  Nearly automated and straight forward.

[MODU]

VAT taxes can be customized among commodities.  Basic needs (food) can be VAT exempt, while a Lexus can have a huge VAT.  In addition, for those under a certain income level can receive a tax refund to off-set the VAT on reasonable non-essential purchases (school supplies, gas, etc).

In a large society like the US, with thousands of companies, it would be a multi-year process of implementing a VAT since (for starters) cash registers would have to be updated in order to apply the correct VAT on the appropriate product.

[MODU]

A little fact from today's Yahoo Finance page daily quiz:

61% of US corporations paid no federal taxes between 1996 and 2000.

That's it.  Impeach Clinton!

Oh wait, we already did.  My bad.  hahaha

[MODU]

All of these ideas are horrible, and if Bush even proposes one of them, it will constitute a betrayal of the American's people's trust in him.   He never mentioned any of them during the campaign, because to do so would have meant losing in a landslide.

No fear, Nick.  It would take the government over 4 years to scrap and install any of the above new tax systems, since they would have to re-educate the citizens of how it works and what their responsibilities are.  That alone would take two years, of course, after the Congress runs all conceivable problems and revenue income from such a change.