Tax Day (General)

High and unfair taxes were a catalyst for The American Revolution. Fair taxation was a hot topic at the birth of our nation and continues to be a vital concern to our country today…at least to the 53% of Americans who actually pay federal income tax. You see, in today’s system, there are 47% of the folks who do not pay any income tax. In fact, only 10% of the top earners in our country pay 75% of ALL income tax for the country. Is that fair? Does that generate an incentive to be creative, innovative, and successful as a small business owner…or does it sound like the system that sparked the original American Revolution? Free flow of capital, and the reinvestment of that capital is crucial to the growth and development of small businesses and the jobs they create! If there is no real reward for investing my money in my business, why wouldn’t I just keep it in the mattress? The latest news today is that there were 484,000 new jobless claims LAST WEEK! No surprise to me. No reward for risking your money in a small business, no investment. The fallacy of “taxing the rich” is that they CAN go someplace else to invest. They CAN exist without hiring new people. They CAN choose to not buy the car or a tanning session that may be vital to your job. Those “rich” folks CAN choose to close their small business rather than risk it all to hire and rain new people, make a product that they do not know will sell, design a sales strategy to make it work, hire graphic designers and printers to create the marketing material, purchase advertising, and actually make a sale, only to have to pay employees, pay the invoices, pay the insurance, pay the rent, hire the accountants, worry about the economy, pray they are left with some profit. Now comes the decision on whether to reinvest that profit or keep it ….. then go home to hear how they are considered the “rich elite” who should pay more in taxes. What would you do?...if your job depended on it? My personal opinion (not that of the management, ownership, affiliates, or anyone connected with my life, either living or dead) is that individuals and businesses are taxed way too much, Sales Tax, Gas Tax, Real Estate Tax, School Tax, Estate Tax, Sin Taxes, Tanning Taxes, Social Security Tax, Medicare Tax, Employee Matching Taxes, Intangible Tax, Income Tax, and in some areas of the country, an additional State Tax… when you add them all up, and then add the costs of the requirement to get financial planners who help you avoid tax (legally) and the accountant that is required to prepare your return (if you are part of the 53% who actually pay) the rate can be over 50% of every dollar you make! Now, before I get flooded with all the questions about the services we receive for those taxes, I do believe that we should fund our national defense with federal taxes and fund our local schools with some sort of SALES tax, so I do believe that we have to have some taxes to pay for the services we get, but can’t they be fair? I am beginning to see the logic of the Flat Tax proposal which sets one tax rate ( say 15%) that is paid on federal tax and EVERYONE pays something. If you make 100 Million tax is $1.5 Million. If you make $1000 you pay $150 dollars for National Security and the Federal Government. If you want local services, you pay tax on what you buy to support the local area. I am not a tax expert, however, it doesn’t take much study to know that our current system is broken and we need to fix it now and quit just talking about it…and there is no better day to start than today... the day when taxes are due.