Start From Scratch

Perhaps the time has come for those responsible for writing legislation to raise revenue for the country to start from scratch when it comes to the tax code.  At present, for the 2012 fiscal year, it appears that the present tax legislation provides for $1,153,738 million dollars of deductions, exemptions, exceptions, and loopholes in the current individual and corporate income tax laws.  That compares with $1,800,000 million dollars that is actually expected to be collected.  In other words, over 60% of what should be taxable income escapes taxes.  Needless to say, most who benefit from this largess are not the average middle class taxpayer.  The reality is this subtle “entitlement” program is almost as large as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid ($1,500,000 dollars) combined. (It should be noted that an additional $1,000,000 million dollars will be collected from payroll taxes and that amount is not included in the $1,800,000 million dollar tax receipts previously mentioned.) If all deductions, exclusions, loopholes, and exceptions were eliminated for a ten year period, the deficit could be eliminated with only minor spending cuts.  This could give the lobbyists a ten year period to prove the cases for the need for tax favors for their clients and pet projects while, at the same time, collecting the full taxes from every individual and corporation without any special treatment for a favored few.  If fact, perhaps legislation should be crafted that mandates that every ten years, both taxes and spending should have to start from scratch. What better way to get rid of waste, abuse, and special favors.