Giulani wants to revamp tax code!

Love his ideas. I don't know about the tax code all fitting on one page, but he's got the right idea. I don't think the average American should have to hire a professional or buy specialized software just to get a yearly requirement of citizenship right!

Oh yeah, the hated Death Tax. By all means, let's encourage hereditary wealth, it's terrible that kids have to work for a living these days.

I find it amusing that Democrats always get blamed for raising taxes....when Bush and Co have done an outstanding job raising everything, including poverty!

Chris, why should people have to pay a tax just because they died?

PJ, have you listened to the Democratic cantidates they want to raise taxes, and less people are living below the poverty line now then 6 years ago.

Of course I've listened. Democrats want to abolish the tax cuts Bush gave the wealthy...that isn't the same as raising taxes. It's the same way when people say the wealthiest give the most to charity...actually they don't, the working poor give more to charity percentage wise!

The only thing wrong with the picture you just mentioned is that our current deficit is way out of whack. While reduding the tax sounds great to people that have to pay tax, what other option is their to reduce our debt? The government, after all, does not make money, they just spend it. It sounds great, but the reality is just not there.

We dont need the income tax, its unconstitutional, its not right and it makes slaves out of us. I dont like the fact that your employer is required to automatically deduct taxes from your wages and i dont like the fact that the government can at any time they feel like it can freeze your bank account, take your money and if you have a problem with that then YOU have to take THEM to court.... noooooo.. no more.. its over. I want it all abolished. The tax laws alone give way too much control to the government over another persons life.

dividend and capital gains taxes hit most americans even if they do not want to see it. Retirement plans, IRAs, and 401ks get hit with these taxes. Yeah dollar wise wealthy people get a bigger break but its because they pay more taxes. We should scrap this who tax code though as it is unfair and overly complicated and move to a consumption tax

I am with you TA

Nobody pays a tax after they die. When you're dead,you're dead. The tax falls on the heirs, obviously.

How is it fair to tax someones estate after they have already paid taxes for all of their earnings

NO to federal sales tax as well.. Im not paying 23% sales tax on something, on top of state sales tax and in some areas a local sales tax. Its too much and Im not gonna pay an extra 30% for something. NO.

we wouldnt have to pay that much if we elimated whole departments of unneeded government.

That is true Modern...

I agree with you on the above comment. The best new administration would be one that could pare down the government. Both in spending and in size.

I agree the income tax has got to go ASAP.

PJ seems to believe anything that has Democrat connected to it. Too bad she has lost the capacity to think independantly.

True, I have been on both sides of witholding - employer don't like being an unpaid tax collecter any more than an employees like the deduction. By defination the tax is on Income not wages yet IRS collects tax on wages. If for some reason the employer does not send the money in on time every quarter the penalitys are rather severe.

Steve Forbes had a great idea with the flat tax,but I think that Rudy's also on the right track. As far as paying taxes are concerned,the poor pay very little tax,or no tax at all. Also,the Estate Tax doesn't just affect the super rich;people with small businesses that want to pass along their legacy to their kids aren't able to do so because the feds take most it away in taxes. To me,that's almost criminal. While Rudy's at it,I think that he should also look at phasing out large entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. These are programs that are forced on us,and it shouldn't be that way. Great article,Publius.

Modern,

The dead people are paying the tax, just their heirs and I believe that currently that applies only if the estate is in excess of 1,000.000. While I might be amenable for some sort of exclusion if a small business were involved I think it would have to be written in such a way that the inheritance tax would still be applicale if the business were sold with a couple of years of inheriting it. An alternative would be to considered the enire amount for which the business was sold as capital gains.

There have been multiple stories on how the death tax is killing the small farmer. When you tally up land value, equipment, animals, etc they hit the million dollar mark. Then the family has to sell the farm to pay the death tax because they can't pay it...With real estate prices as high as they are a million bucks isn't what it used to be...There are ways around the death tax, which the wealthy understand or pay someone to understand. It is the working farmer or middle class who doesn't have an accountant on their payroll that gets crushed...If you paid your income tax when you earned your money, paid your sales tax when you purchased your belongings, why do you have to pay another tax just because you died?

We have too many Taxes and unconstitutional taxes.. the income tax and employee tax definitly needs to go. We need to be able to Opt out of Social Security and Medicare. I dont like having the government being able to access my bank and freeze it or other assets.. im not anyones slave.

I dont even support property taxes on the local level, a mans home is his castle, which in turn leads to the fact I dont support local governments, I think everything including Police/Fire/Ambulance should be state only. Anyways, yes that income tax needs to go.. i worked for my partners company from 1998-2002 and we had to HIRE a guy full time to come in JUST to do the taxes AND on top of that we had to pay a TAX just to EMPLOY each person on TOP of taking money from THEIR paycheck to pay to the IRS.. it was an eye opener and this is not what was intended.

Many regressive-taxation plutocrats savor the idea of a simpler tax code, because it will mean dramatically lower taxes for them, and more for the middle class. By now, I think we all know that when a republiCON says "lower taxes," he's not talking about the 95%. He's referring to the investor class only.

That said, it's no great secret that the federal income tax is entirely unconstitutional to begin with, and should be immediately abolished, along with the federal reserve. It serves only to fatten the wallets of the central bankers.




" There have been multiple stories on how the death tax is killing the small farmer."

This is hogwash. Not a small farming family has lost their farm due to the estate tax, and only a tiny percentage of any family business has even been affected by it. This lie was part of the propaganda campaign launched by right wing oligarchs to end the estate tax.

The right wing lies about taxation are undoubtedly embraced by those who are nowhere near being affected by such tax rates because 2/3 of the population actually believes that they're in the upper 5%. Delusion ain't just a river in Egypt.

Here are some facts about the estate tax:
http://www.responsiblewealth.org/tax_fairness/
Estate_Tax/Estate_Tax_Myths.html

The purpose of this tax was to prevent wealthy families from acquiring so much wealth that they gained favored access to the government. The fear was that these wealthy plutocrats would then be able to lobby for legislation that would funnel ever more wealth into their pockets, at the expense of the rest of the population, and that, eventually, our entire representative form of government would only serve these plutocrats, and would turn its back on "we the people." How could anyone be so silly as to think that something like that would happen anyway?

Why should the tax code be reformed, it is illegal, it was never to my knowledge made permanent, it was supposed to be a temporary source of revenue during the world wars.

Federal employment or any civil service job was never intended to be a way to get rich and have more benefits than the people who pay your salary.