From the category archives:

tax policy

If You Pay Them, They Will Come

2 October 2009

Here’s a crazy thought: if you give people a financial incentive, you can make them do almost anything (trust me, I watch a lot of reality TV).
For the IRS, the financial incentive comes in the form of increased rewards for turning in tax cheats. A new law, which was established by the Tax [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Replace Income Tax with Sales Tax

4 September 2009

William Gifford, MBA, writes:
Congress should eliminate the current system altogether. Throw out the federal income tax because it’s too broken to be fixed.
In it’s place, I think we should pass something like the VAT in Europe: a federal sales tax. Think about it. Rather than penalize people for making more money, [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Take a Second Look

4 September 2009

Robert D Flach, the internet’s “Wandering Tax Pro“, writes:

If I ruled the world, or at least had a voice in rewriting the Tax Code, not only would every man be as free as a bird and every voice be a voice to be heard, but I would also make the following changes to our current [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Simplify the Tax Code

3 September 2009

Frank Siler writes:
All members of Congress should be forced to do their taxes with pencil, paper, and IRS instructions. I am hopeful they would all conclude that the process is ridiculously complicated, invasive, and needs to be greatly simplified. Often I see politicians making clearly false or at least misleading statements about changes [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Audit Every Year

3 September 2009

Sheila Billingsley writes:
I have a controversial suggestion for Congress: audit tax returns every year.
I prepare tax returns for a large tax company. One of the biggest sources of stress for taxpayers is whether or not they will get audited. Many of them do everything right but are still very scared of an [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Flat Tax.

2 September 2009

Beth S. writes:

Two words: flat tax.

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Eliminate Benefits for Having Kids

2 September 2009

David Smith writes:
If I could make one change in the tax code, I would eliminate any benefits for having children. I chose to be single. I chose not to have children. I am appalled to see how much our tax system subsidizes having children. It is welfare, just put forth another [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Gay Marriage

2 September 2009

Gideon Alper, who publishes the Gay Couples Law Blog, which discusses new developments in same-sex family law and estate planning, writes:
The IRS should recognize gay marriages not just as a matter of equality, but also to encourage socially beneficial behavior in gay relationships.
Fred Silberberg, a Los Angeles attorney that has practiced family law for over [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Fix the AMT

1 September 2009

Eric Satterley writes:
An immediate need is to change the alternative minimum tax recapture law. On stock options you were forced to pay the alternative minimum tax even if you exercised any options (even if you did not sell the stocks). The law was that you could recapture/apply the tax paid toward the capital [...]

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Hey Congress, Why Don’t You…? Estate Tax and Dividends

1 September 2009

Scott Lovingood writes:
Two specifics that should be addressed immediately.
Stop double taxation
1) Eliminate the estate tax. You pay taxes on everything you make and then you get taxed again when you die? Tell me that makes any sense.
2) Stop taxing Dividends on personal accounts- Companies have already paid taxes on the profit [...]

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