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Overhaul tax code

2 min read

Most Americans would certainly agree with U.S. House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader-Elect Mitch McConnell that our nation has “an insanely complex tax code.”

Additionally, we penalize earning, saving, and investing, while rewarding consumption.

I would be highly skeptical, though, that the two leaders will be able to change it. Many well-intentioned leaders have attempted to bring about tax simplification before, yet the tax code has become even more voluminous and incomprehensible year after year.

Our nation reaches the point of absurdity when the means through which the government secures revenue is so unwieldy and confusing as to cause the average American with a simple tax situation to have to engage a professional to complete their tax return at significant expense and if they are smart, to engage professionals from the industry which specializes in facilitating tax minimization and avoidance.

The late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter had one magnificent idea within his ill-fated 1996 presidential campaign: to bring about a system of taxation which would enable most Americans to file their annual return on a postcard. Surely a smart man like Specter knew that this was a pipe dream, that even if he were to be elected and propose such a measure, that lobbyists would come out of the woodwork to fight it tooth and nail as their oxen would be gored by a simplified system.

Levying a consumption tax would be the simplest means of ending our annual misery and angst, and it would provide a powerful jolt to the economy without costing one dime. I see no chance of it ever becoming law in the country which has adopted the credo of, “We do it this way because we have always done it this way. Damn the consequences: full speed ahead.”

Oren M. Spiegler

Upper Saint Clair

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