Annapolis Capital Punishment

What bugs me way more than paying taxes is figuring out what I owe.

That’s because our taxes have usually brought us reasonable representation, except during the Bush and Moyer Administrations. I’m not dismissing waste, frivolity or the massive subsidy programs known as the Departments of Defense and Agriculture but we do get a semblance of a civilized society with a money system that has been the envy of the world, and a reasonably high living standard. Ships, trucks and cars pass over, under, on and through an incredible public infrastructure network. Local taxes help cover libraries, police and schools, but some folks think the government should only protect the coast, deliver the mail and leave us alone. Speaking of not leaving us alone, we’ll just ignore that agency with the classified budget up there by Fort Meade.

While some benefit more than others from our “system”, many of them also pay less in taxes through this same “system”, much to the delight of those who profit from this complexity created by the special interests that lobby Congress to create this system. In turn it necessitates the IRS, which in Fiscal Year 2006, handled over 133 million individual tax returns plus millions of corporate and other returns. I just have to prepare and hate one tax return.

I’d favor almost any proposal if it would end the April nightmare, so I like the idea of a national consumption sales tax or maybe a variation, such as the value added tax. What if we just paid a federal tax when we buy a car, yacht or an appliance? We’d exempt essentials such as groceries, but we could keep all of what we earn. It might encourage us to save and invest more heavily and perhaps more aggressively, especially if those gains were never taxed. Because we’d take home more earnings, we’d spend more—and the less fortunate would pay very little in taxes and the rich would pay more, and they’ll have more money available to spend because they did not pay income tax. Therefore, when they buy that yacht, they’ll pay a big tax on the consumption, rather than on the income. And what would we be without yachts?

Certainly some would find new ways to tweak or cheat or revise this new system, but imagine no more April nightmares or IRS, which would save billions, and Congress could argue about something else. We would all benefit and though I haven’t yet figured out how this would affect local governments, we’re working on it…..but about that property tax thing, we’re working on that too.

What we have now is at least a familiar horror and solving it is like solving the parking crunch in town. Those who like the system won’t change it, but if it is not working for you now, you might like the proposed change. Which elected officials or office-seekers are willing to risk the political capital to change parking here or change taxes nationally? Steve Forbes proposed the flat tax as a presidential candidate, but he was a one-issue billionaire with puffy cheeks, thick glasses and the personality of drywall. Who would vote for him for mayor or president?

I’m still bewildered by the 300-page IRS instruction book whose cover is the only part I understand or have bothered to look at so far. It includes pictures of Mt. Rushmore (which I have to do to complete these forms), the Supreme Court, a highway cloverleaf, a man at a computer, a saluting military officer in uniform and a dozen little ballerinas. Ballerinas? Wait a minute--did my taxes pay for their uniforms too?