[sperry]

Here's another thing missing from that analogy: H I and J all have expensive tax lawyers and lobbyists they each pay $2 to find all the loopholes that allow them to save $10 to $20 on their tax bills.

Did anyone watch the NV Democratic debates? Obama pointed out that Warren Buffet pays a lower tax percentage than his secretary because his income is primarily due to stocks and dividends, and not salary that's directly taxable.

IMO, the only truly fair tax system is pure sales tax. Separate all goods and services into three categories:

1) Staples (food/services that people need to survive) tax free

2) General (the majority of goods/services) 10% sales tax

3) Luxury (expensive items that you could get by w/ the general version but you'd rather spend the money on the "better" item... like a $50k+ car) 20% sales tax

Force the states to integrate their income taxes into the sales tax system, so CA residents would generally pay 10% Fed + 4% State + 7% county/city = 21% sales tax. Of course that sounds pretty high, but remember that you'll generally be getting 35% more money per month.

Items destined for resale (raw goods used in manufacturing, items for sale in a store, etc) are not taxed. Property tax probably remains a separate system. Items imported or exported are subject to separate tariff laws.

Use a computer/network/database based accounting system that allows resellers to easily pay their taxes on a monthly basis via their POS systems. So taxes are collected far more painlessly than having to file a report once a year to settle up w/ the gov't. This would also reduce the cost of maintaining the IRS tremendously.

And since we're now collecting taxes on all sold items, we're collecting money from income tax evaders, illegals, drug dealers, and the big one: internet sales.

The goal is, every month put *all* the money I've earned into my pocket and let *me* decide how much my gov't is going to get from me by how much I spend. Work the percentages such that the gov't gets all it needs and I'm paying them less yearly.

Also, I'd like to see Social Security as we know it dismantled... and if it comes back, none of this "those that pay now pay for those collecting now" crap... If I'm forced to pay into it, I want my money invested for me and guaranteed to be there when I need it, not spent on the folks that are collecting now in the hopes that there will be people to pay me back later.

And finally, we'd need to vastly upgrade our concept of fiscal responsibility. IMO, every large gov't organization should be able to operate fine on half the money they're getting. If the gov't were a business, it'd be out of business. For examply, you don't see successful businesses paying out guaranteed raises to tenured employees regardless of performance ('cept for places like Ford and GM who are going to be out of business due to the unions they employ). Make our gov't programs responsible for their own livelihoods, much like the USPS. If a program isn't making money, find out why and change it. Frankly, I don't see any reason why (with the exception of the military) all of our programs can't be run like private businesses who's goal is to make a profit.

/overgeneralized rant