ican wrote :
Quote:What true conservatives actually advocate is complying with the rule of law; for example, specifically complying with the tax law specified in the USA Constitution:
"Article I. Section 8. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States; but all duties, imposts and excises shall be uniform throughout the United States"
We advocate that because we know the USA Constitution states:
"Article VI. This Constitution, and the laws of the United States which shall be made in pursuance thereof; and all treaties made, or which shall be made, under the authority of the United States, shall be the supreme law of the land; and the judges in every state shall be bound thereby, anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding."
Taxing all dollars of income at the same rate, regardless of whose dollar it is, when it was earned, how it was earned, how many other dollars are earned, how many other dollars are owned, would be a uniform tax rate.
For example: if the uniform tax rate on all dollars of income were 10%, then a person earning:
$1,000 would pay $100 tax;
$100,000 would pay $10,000 tax;
$10,000,000 would pay $1,000,000 tax;
$10,000,000,000 would pay $1,000,000,000 tax.
in the 1960's - under a liberal canadian government - justice porter was appointed to bring together economists , business people , accountants ... ... to come up with a major tax reform .
their solution - unfortunately - was a very simply one :
ALL income , from work , interest , dividends , inheritance , theft (yes , that too ) would be added together - there would be NO exceptions to any income .
except for a basic exemption , there would be no other excemptions - NONE ! .
no subsidies of any kind to business would be allowed .
the commision showed that individual tax returns would fit on the back of a postcard and that the tax code would only take up a few pages .
they also demonstrated that a fairly modest tax was able to support government operations .
you can guess what happened : a howl went up from just about every source , including industries looking for handouts from government and lower taxes , tax "professionals" , employees of the tax department .. and the list goes on .
the tax code has now become so complicated that the regulations , rulings , forms etc. will fill whole rooms at tax lawyers' offices and tax offices .
the tax department has also decided that "advance" rulings may be changed at the option of the tax department at the time of filing .
even the ordinary tax return has usually about 12 to 20 pages !
no other government has ever again even talked about simplifying the tax system - too many people make a living from it .
hbf
) : NEVER !