Could the United States benifit from a simplified US Tax Law for everyone?

We have about 200 publications, equal to that in forms, and spend billions of mailing, recordkeeping, storage, and the endless sorting out of mistakes when they happen every year Americans complete their United States Tax Returns. How do you think we could simplify the tax code without abolishing it for defense purposes and protecting our citizens and those who are TRULY disabled and in need of long-term care? What about a flat rate percentage of tax paid yearly on income set at 20% with no forms to fill out and just an electronic recordkeeping system where your taxes were paid through withholding from income received before you get it? My thoughts on this matter will appear in my group theUSvotingBooth in Yahoo later this week. I will not accept terroristic or agressive responses on this topic. If you have a remark that is agressive or deciminates violent remarks it will be dealt with. Civil community responses are highly recommended and welcome. Presently, the United States Government spends billions on sending the over 200+ publications, and 300+ forms to the 200 million or so taxpayers the US says are filing returns regularly. If we used a simpler tax code having everyone pay a flat 20% rage regardless of income and had it withhold every year eliminating those forms, and pubs, and the volumes of confusing laws that go with it then I think it would save is billions. We could then cut costs by reducing the work force necessary to explain all of those laws and put more to work helping increase the work foce and maybe give our country new knowledge and other capabilities. What do you think? No terroristic remarks please - I know taxes are a touchy subject, but let's remain calm, civil citizens.

Public Comments

1. Won't happen because the upper class pays too much. The government would lose soo much money doing that.
2. It should be simple problem is it won't be, if it was simple, the rich would have to pay more taxes, and they won't let that happen. I'm not rich and you probably aren't either, so it's just a dream for us. Someone already proved that if you only charged everyone a flat 10%, it would be fair for everyone and the US would have plenty of money and it would be simple for everyone, but it never went over.
3. Think of a flat tax this way. If you make $1,000,000 a year you would pay $200,000 in tax. That leaves you $800,000. That is more than anyone really needs to live on for the rest of your life. If you make $50,000 a year, you would pay $10,000 leaving you $40,000. That $10,000 is world of difference. The only fair thing is that the more you make the more you pay.
4. I think that would be great. Anyone with income over the poverty level would pay 20% with no loopholes for big corporations,and millionares.
5. Absolutely !! And without question ... Let's start with a look at the basic economics of the multiple thousands of pages of tax code ... the cost to print, distribute, and process tax returns approaches 500 million dollars a year ... people have complained more about things with far less of an economic impact. If a simplified tax code could virtually eliminate the IRS just think of all the good things that could be done with the money spent just to administer the tax code ... build new schools, give more to charity, and the list goes on and on. A common misconception ... the rich don't pay much taxes ... I'm far from rich, I'm middle class at best, but the truth is that even though the rich and upper middle class typically have more write offs to reduce their tax percentage, they are paying a substantially greater amount of the tax burden (in dollars) than the lower middle class or poor. So we shouldn't kid ourselves into thinking the rich and upper middle class aren't paying their fair share ... they are without question. The Flat tax (introduced by Steve Forbes in the early 90s) mentioned by a few writers is a good start ... but it has a few flaws and holes which don't make it very practical. An adaptation of the Flat tax which is extremely sound and would benefit everyone in this country is the Fair Tax introduced by (Among others) Libertarian Talk show host Neal Boortz. I don't have enough room to discuss it in full, but either do a google search on it or check out http://www.fairtax.org . I can't do it all justice in just a few words, but to give you a general idea it is a tax on consumption ... if you are buying hamburger to feed your family dinner the tax would be virtually zero ... but if you're buying things that are luxuries ... like Lobster and Caviar, the tax is much higher ... so those that are buying expensive luxuries pay a larger burden of the tax than those just living a more routine existence. That is but one example ... here's another that may sound a bit strange ... but think about it. People making money due to illegal ventures today are not paying taxes at all on their "income" ... in other words drug dealers, smugglers, etc. aren't reporting billions of dollars of "income" to the IRS so they aren't paying taxes on that money AT ALL. But they are buying expensive cars, food, bling, and everything else. Under the Fair Tax ... they WILL pay tax on those billions of dollars they are paying! The Fair Tax eliminates the IRS and the waste of processing tax returns, eliminates property tax, estate taxes, and virtually every other tax ... thereby reducing the tax burden on all of us, putting more money in people's pockets, AND contributes more money to the treasury. It's a great idea ... look into it and tell your congress members to vote for it as well ... or ... vote them out. This makes sense.