FLAT
TAX .-
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For as long as I have been filling out my tax
forms (about 30 years now) I always managed to do it all by myself.
I am proud of it, because it is not a trivial task. However, I admit, filling
my income tax forms has always been a major cause of headaches and frustration in my life. |
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It used to be a much simpler task three
decades ago. In Europe, most countries tax their employees via the
employer, in a pretty straight forward manner. Over there, y. Therefore, the
employee rarely needs to file any forms at all. It might not be
totally fair. Moreover, it might not allow their Governments to put a tight control
on their social behavior (what is done through incentives in the
tax code). BUT, it is simple, and nobody loses a night of sleep when
time comes to pay big brother, the piper. |
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I do not care how much benefit the "right" tax
laws might bring to people. I am sure that those well thought tax-laws are going
to benefit a few taxpayers here and there, but these bunch of laws
bring also a tremendous
complexity to this whole process that all of us must go through. It is
not worth the trouble, not matter what ! Believe me ! |
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Last year I was able to fill out my IRS forms
thanks to an online internet service. It was amazing. Yet, I
derailed, and lost
control. I could not understood all the details of what have happened, and
ended up submitting a whopping 11 pages that the system poured out. That is not good ! It
must be stopped. |
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Only your mortgage should be deductible,
and only if
the interest rate exceeds some rate value. Perhaps 8%. For any other
expense to be deductible it would have to be really extraordinary. |
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Wait! you may say: if there are less deductibles,
would we have to pay more taxes? Not really! Because,
to compensate you would pay a much lower rate applied to your gross. It is so
simple that I feel stupid saying it. NO ADJUSTMENTS, NO
DEDUCTIBLES, YOU PAY TAX ON YOUR GROSS WHICH IS TO BE MULTIPLIED BY A LOW
PERCENT RATE
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Tax as low as 2% of your gross, for the lower tier; and |
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As little as 5% of their gross for those
taxpayers on the higher
tier. |
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The IRS has destroyed many lives. And
there is a silent majority out there, who are sick and tired of filling out
forms, and keeping track of everything they do in their lives. It is got
to be a smarter and more sensible way of collecting taxes without so
much citizen's trouble. |
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Despite the fact that I finished studies in Business
Administration (concentration in Accounting, and several courses in
Taxation), and despite the fact that I am an Engineer who loves math, and
who has always graduated in the top 5% of his class, I always have had
nightmares when the month of April nears. I know many feel that way.
And I know our Government and Politicians have promised many times they
will work to simplify the tax code, only to fail to do so. As a matter
of fact it is getting more complicated day by day, as they try to control our lives
more and more via this tax system. |
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If I am
elected, I will be the stronger
proponent of a FLAT TAX that you could ever hoped to find in Congress.
Flat does not mean a flat percent of tax across all the spectrum of
salaries, but three tiers would be probably adequate. Zero taxes up to some level, then
perhaps 2% of gross up to
another level. And finally 5% for there up, regardless of how high the
income might go. |
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INVESTMENTS.
CAPITAL GAINS .-
| Furthermore, online trading is here. And
I am one of those with a stock portfolio that I buy/sell almost on a daily
basis. I do not believe in short-term and long-term stocks.
In
my opinion all stocks should be treated equally, regardless how long you
have held them. This is so, for fairness. Investors
should not be compelled to hold a stock any longer when they feel they do
not need to. Also for simplicity. As online
trading becomes more and more popular, keeping track of the losses/profits
made on your portfolio will be such a common, tedious, and hateful experience
that it may hamper many people from getting into investing. All that should count is the net
flow of capital into your portfolio to/from outside. And not from
the daily appreciation or depreciation of the stock you sold/bought. |
| Moreover, all money invested in stock
-while
is in the stock account- should be tax free, and treated as an IRA account. Only
to be taxed when you withdraw it. |
| Furthermore, all
capital gains/losses
should be treated as regular earnings. You do not need any particular age to
withdraw your money. You can have it when you want, add it to your
regular earnings, and pay a low percent on the gross. |
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EXAMPLE: You open an trading
account and you wire $10,000. That money is treated as if in an IRA account,
it does not pay taxes until it is withdrawn. Five
years later those $10,000 have grown into $20,000 and you need some money.
Therefore, you ask your online trader to send you a wire for $15,000 and
live the other $5,000 still invested. Let's say you also earned $50,000
dollars from work you did for your employer. Then you pay taxes
that year on your gross of $65,000 (salary of $50,000 and stock inflow of
$15,000).. It is better than our current IRA
because there are not penalties for withdrawals, and there is no limits on
how much you put on your trading account. |
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Proofreader |
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