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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (14300)	4/12/2004 7:18:04 PM
From: Quincy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

Relax Bob. Reliant is getting the probe they so richly deserve and I still have my "Abolish the IRS" T shirt from Dick Armey's presentation 7 years ago. Hello folks. I am here to find out how Kerry intends to create more jobs than George Bush. Since the founding of the IRS itself, our elected officials have bestowed on us a tax system so complex, it hides the pork and social engineering legislation so well, our tax professionals and IRS employees themselves can't be counted on to find it. The monster in our closet is the manpower required to enforce and manage the collective will of our elected officials. Clear now?

To: Bearcatbob who wrote (14300)	4/12/2004 7:30:55 PM
From: CalculatedRisk	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 81568

A flat tax is not a terrible economic concept since it minimizes transaction costs. However, it also requires a substantial estate tax or the flat tax eventually fails. The appropriate tax burden is dependent on your time horizon. Personally I think a slow / steady approach (i.e. a progressive tax) solves the problem better. To each his own. Of course, some people don't understand the flaw in the flat tax scheme, and want to repeal the estate tax too! Obviously that would not work. In an ideal World, the income tax would be replaced with a "wealth tax". If we taxed wealth, a flat tax would work and no estate tax would be required! Too bad we can't figure that out. Of course, this leads to different tax avoidance schemes as people go to extremes to hide their wealth. This reminds me of John Fogerty's song "Fortunate Son". These days some people probably don't understand these lines: Some folks are born silver spoon in hand, Lord, dont they help themselves But when the tax man comes to the door, Lord the house looks like a rummage sale It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no millionaire's son It ain't me, it ain't me I ain't no fortunate one