Tax reform

According to the Census Bureau, the population of the United States in 2011 was 311,951,917. In the same year the per capita personal income was $41,560, and corporate profits were $1,977,400,000,000. If all this income, both personal and corporate, were taxed at 10%, that would total $4,262,572,167,052. The Federal budget for that year was $3,630,000,000,000 (expenditures, as against $2,314,000,000,000 in receipts). It can thus be clearly seen that if all loopholes were closed, all deductions eliminated, and an equal tax rate applied to all income, the country would no longer have to resort to deficit spending; in fact, it would end the year with a surplus, which could be applied to the next year's budget. (If these conditions continued to obtain, it might even be possible to gradually reduce the percentage paid out.) Moreover, if the code were to be simplified in this fashion, we could do away with the IRS, which costs about $10,600,000,000 per year. Indeed, we could perhaps allow persons with less than a certain income ($26,000/yr.?) not to pay income taxes at all—at least until the grunts in the trenches can be guaranteed an actual living wage.

I urge Congress and President Obama to work together to make this meaningful and vital reform a reality.