I hate tax day. Like many (maybe most) Americans, I seriously resent the time and effort I have to spend to file taxes every year. Filling in the forms has gotten easier over the years with e-File and programs like TurboTax, but even with that I spent over 6 hours putting together my taxes last weekend—and that doesn’t count all the time through the year tracking income, expenses, inventory, and the like.
What would it be like to track my business and personal finances from a viewpoint of management, not taxes? Easier, no doubt, and probably more financially sound as well.
There is a system that could replace the income tax fairly: A National Retail Sales Tax.
It’s simple, the infrastructure for collecting sales tax is already in place in all states except Oregon and New Hampshire. It’s fair, taxing only on the money you spend, not the money you make. Since most people spend a large portion of their income anyway, the tax collected would be in the same range, plus it would tax illegal income (drug money, for example). If you save money, then you don’t get taxed on it. It’s a win-win all the way around.
I don’t mind paying a tax to support the government. Even though I have some issues about what they do with the money, there are plenty of benefits and services provided that are of value. What I don’t like is the intrusion that allows the IRS to look into my personal life. A National Retail Sales tax removes that.
I wonder how much more production we’d have in the country if people could make money without fear of someone looking over their shoulder, and if the we could remove the potential of guilt, sneaking around, lying, afraid-to-be-found-out, and fear of audits from the population as a whole?
I invite you to check out the National Retail Sales Tax, and if it looks fair to you, to support it however you can.
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