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How To Create A Fairer Tax Environment
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Steve Selengut
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Can lawmakers who don't have the courage or intelligence to outlaw texting while
driving really be expected to create a saner tax structure? Hmmm.
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Developing a fairer tax environment is much less an economics problem than it is
a political dilemma and, as many of you observed, it is unlikely that anything
"tax" will be improved upon until there is some serious facial (and cultural)
change in Washington.
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Politicians focus on one issue at a time, and pretend to have problems dealing
with inter-related programs. Tenured politicians have a vested interest in
resisting any change that involves their spheres of influence. Both parties are
embarrassingly mired in twentieth century class warfare that stifles all forms
of productive debate.
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Tax cuts don't just benefit the rich. In fact, they provide the opportunity for
everyone to attain greater wealth. Demand directs resources far better than
punitive taxation. Money in consumer hands will fuel social and environmentally
friendly change.
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"You cannot eliminate revenue from one program without replacing it from
another, equally complicated, one", career politicians will say philosophically.
They have little to gain from simplifying the tax collection system - yet it is
obvious that a whole new approach would solve most of the economic woes plaguing
us today, domestic and international.
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So what would become of all the CPAs, tax attorneys, and offshore laundries -
new jobs as consultants, auditors, and regulators perhaps?
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Survey responses outlined constructive and manageable solutions to our multiple
tax problems. If they could only be dealt with as a whole "New Deal" (catchy
phrase), a fairer tax structure would be in reach.
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Several basic concepts need to be accepted: a) don't tax the job creators,
b) tax consumption instead of income, and c) regulate shareholder abuse in the
form of obscene executive pay. Then, enforce compliance with the intent of a
simplified tax code.
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A smarter tax system would allow more people to become wealthy honestly;
smarter regulation of thieves in high places would improve the image of big
business (and big government) significantly.
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Steve Selengut is the author of The Brainwashing of the
American Investor: The Book that Wall Street Does Not Want YOU to Read",
and "A Millionaire's Secret Investment Strategy". One of his
websites: Kiawah Golf
Investment Seminars.
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