I have been an appliance repairman for 40 years. My natural inclination is to fix things. As I look at the state of national affairs today, nothing seems to be working right. One hardly knows where to begin the repairs. May I suggest tax reform?
The income tax discourages investment and productivity. It penalizes exporters, who must add the cost of taxes into the price of everything they export. People with high incomes are leaving the United States in droves to avoid income taxes. Working people have up to 25 percent of their income confiscated before they even get their paychecks. The IRS intrudes into our private affairs. We waste hundreds of billions of dollars and millions of hours every year in compliance costs. People defraud the system for undeserved refunds. Hundreds of billions in revenue from the underground economy and tax cheating is left on the table.
The Fair Tax changes everything. Because it is a tax on consumption, it sidesteps that entire list of evils associated with the income tax. The Fair Tax, however, goes beyond mere reform. Sometimes when I am called upon to repair an appliance, the cost exceeds the value of the unit in question. That’s what’s happening with the income tax today. The income tax cannot be repaired. It must be replaced. Of all the plans being discussed on Capitol Hill, only the Fair Tax can bring the kind of fundamental and comprehensive change that will allow for a permanent fix.
DAVID BOONE
Houston, Minn.
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