Comment

A Fine Mess

a Global Quest for a Simpler, Fairer, and More Efficient Tax System
Community comment are the opinions of contributing users. These comment do not represent the opinions of Daniel Boone Regional Library.
Jul 18, 2017
Congress would do well to heed this observation of the systems used by other advanced, high-tech, free-market democracies. Reid offers the following ways to lower the tax rate and increase the government revenues: BBLR—it stands for “broad base, lower rate,” and to achieve it, congress would remove all exceptions and deductions while fixing the rate for all tax payers. Even cherished right-offs like mortgage interest and charity donations must go. He shows that such things aren’t achieving the stated objective anyway. Everyone should pay as participatory citizens. VAT—the value added tax takes a variety of forms but it’s proved a solid way to integrate taxation with the economy in many successful countries. We just have to get over the knee-jerk reactions against it by politicians "so determined to be exceptional, to do things in our own way, that they refuse to implement a valuable idea that almost every other country on the planet has embraced to its benefit. This makes us exceptional, but not in a way tat any other country would choose." (pp. 229-230) Simplify—the IRS computes everyone’s tax under this streamlined system and the taxpayer verifies the result. Completing the annual return is a 10-minute event, as it now is for the Japanese.