The Marietta Daily Journal - Georgians Deserve Simpler, Fairer U.S. Tax Code
The Marietta Daily Journal - Georgians Deserve Simpler, Fairer U.S. Tax Code
by Saxby Chambliss
The Marietta Daily Journal
http://www.mdjonline.com/270/10215442.txt
Over the years, Congress has adjusted and changed the current federal tax code many, many times. However, this month Georgians are once again reminded that the current code continues to be unfair and excessively complex. In my view, we should end the IRS as we know it and replace the current code with one that is more simple, fair, consistent and honest.
According to the Tax Foundation, over the past four decades the number of words detailing income tax law has grown from 172,000 words in 1955 to 1,286,000 in 2005. That is an astounding 648 percent increase in tax-regulation. The Tax Foundation also found that in 2005, individuals, businesses and non-profits spent over 6 billion hours complying with the federal income tax code with an estimated compliance cost of over $265.1 billion.
These numbers are astounding, particularly when you factor in that many Americans hire professional accountants to navigate the current system to ensure they fill out their forms correctly.
When I travel around the state of Georgia, one of the key issues I hear from folks directly about is a more fair tax system, so I have introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate called The FairTax. My legislation is the companion to the House bill sponsored by my Georgia colleague, Congressman John Linder (R-Duluth). He has championed the FairTax in the House of Representatives for some time, and I am proud to team up with him and lead the effort on this measure in the Senate.
The FairTax would eliminate all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a consumption tax on the final sale of all good and services. Under the FairTax, the less you spend, the less you pay in taxes. The more you spend, the more you pay.
Because the FairTax is consumption based, the underground economy of illegal activity and the roughly 11 million illegal immigrates currently living in our country who don't pay federal taxes would instantly become tax payers.
Taxes would be collected the same way sales taxes are collected today - you pay whenever you buy a first-time good or service. The seller collects the tax, which is paid to the government. The plan includes a mechanism to lighten the tax burden on necessities such as food, transportation and clothing to help lower-income families. The FairTax would continue to fund Social Security and Medicare, but the revenue would come from the sales tax, not a payroll tax.
The FairTax, if enacted, could be a $2.5 trillion economic stimulus package for our economy over 10 years. In my view, this would help create jobs as well as substantial economic growth if all that money was spent on research, development and technology rather than IRS red tape.
I believe we have a real opportunity to make April 15th, Tax Day, just another day if we get the momentum in Congress to eliminate the federal tax code, replace it with The FairTax, and ultimately have a plan that is a more common sense approach.
Saxby Chambliss (R-Moultrie) is Georgia's senior U.S. Senator.
http://chambliss.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsCenter.Articles&ContentRecord_id=996b0091-802a-23ad-48b8-fbfd3e33893c&Region_id=&Issue_id=&CFID=59369423&CFTOKEN=58111184