| An
Open Letter to the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform
Dear Panel Members:
When looking at how to handle Tax Reform, I believe the most important
thing you can do is grab a large trash can. Let me tell you why.
Taxpayers spend too many very valuable hours thinking about taxes.
Example: when I was in sales (about 30 years), everything I did
revolved around taxation. I’d get in my car, and write my
beginning mileage in my diary. Go to the gas station, and fill up,
and staple the receipt into my diary. Meet a customer for breakfast,
and write in my diary who I was with, what we spoke about, and how
much the bill was. At each stop, the mileage was written in. At
each meal with, more records. Even the car I drove. Do I depreciate
it? Is it time to buy a new one?
My decisions aren’t based on logic, or economy,
or even the ecology, only on the tax consequences. The house I buy,
when I buy it, and the interest rate, are all contingent on tax
issues. Since I can not possibly keep up with the millions of pages
of tax code or the thousands of changes that occur each year, I
need to be involved with a so called “tax professional.”
This “tax professional” probably doesn’t know
much more than I (judging by how many land in jail each year, or
get their clients into trouble), but the hundreds of dollars that
I throw out the window by paying them are supposed to be worth it.
I’d much rather give that money to charity. At least I’d
feel like I helped someone in need. Now that I think about it -
imagine how our economy would boom if those “tax professionals”
got a real job, and produced something? Wow, that would be something.
Then that afternoon I need to go to the mall to get a gift for my
wife. Wait a minute. Can I count that mileage? Probably not. I know
while I’m at the mall, if I buy a thank you card for my customer,
I’ll bet then the whole trip is a write off. I’ll give
it a try. As part of my wife’s birthday gift, I’ll be
taking her to New York for a vacation. Well, sort of. I think my
accountant said if I see some clients while I’m there, this
trip can be a write off. I feel guilty about that. It seems devious,
but my “tax professional” says that’s the way
it is.
The other day my “tax professional” said that if I incorporate,
I might be able to save even more money on taxes. He said that corporations
get to write off a lot of stuff before taxes, and, as an individual,
I will have to pay taxes first, and then pay for things. I really
don’t understand, but I’ll do what he says. Then there
are more forms that I don’t know anything about, and more
costs that will make my “tax professional” more money.
He’ll be happy. But all this depends on me getting a raise
this year, if I move up to the next bracket. I should go and take
a tax course somewhere, but I could use a sales course for my career.
What will make my family more money: a pay raise or a tax write-off?
I know. Maybe it’s time to have another kid. That will help.
Maybe I’d better get another gift for my wife before I suggest
it. I could get a bigger house. Don’t know if I can handle
any more debt, but maybe it will lesson my taxes. But if I have
a bad month at work, I could lose the house. Heck, I could pay my
mortgage with my credit card. I still have some room there…that
would be real smart.
Of course, all of the above is “tongue in cheek,”
but I see this every day, all around me.
The fact is that our Founding Fathers gave a lot of thought to the
income tax. They decided that it was evil, and even called it a
“Slave Tax.” They said that if a government could tax
income, they would then own your labor, and in turn own you. They
could decide if they would allow you to keep 90% of your income,
or 10%. That’s slavery. By the way, slavery in the U.S. is
forbidden in Article 13 section 1 of the Constitution.
In the 1800’s, a slave who withheld his labor was likely to
be punished. He would be put on short rations or whipped. If one
of us today withholds from the IRS, the punishment is more severe
- several years in prison. The slave tax is very expensive, and
a drain on our economy. It takes 6.1 billion hours, more than 3
million man-years, to comply with the slave tax. In dollar terms,
it costs us slaves an additional $200 billion to comply with a 2,840-page
tax code -- more than twice the number of pages in the Bible, and
more than three times the words.
The federal tax rules interpreting the code come to
46,000 pages. There are more than 481 separate IRS tax forms. Last
year, the IRS received 110 million telephone calls asking for help
in understanding the rules. The IRS did not know the answer 27 percent
of the time. Over the last couple of decades a significant number
of Americans have discovered that the income tax laws are convoluted,
deceptive and, most importantly, misunderstood and misapplied. Some
learn these things by chance, or curiosity. Many more have learned
the hard way - in a fight for their lives against the most hated
and feared agency in America, the Internal Revenue Service.
Most Americans do not read the Tax Code, relying instead upon the
professional advice of CPA's and attorneys. Tens of thousands of
private citizens, for a variety of reasons, have done their own
study of the tax laws and have been so outraged by what they have
discovered that they have been willing to risk financial ruin, and
even prison, rather than continue to submit to what they see as
fraud and coercion. Many of these people have consulted with CPA's
and attorneys only to find that the "professionals" don't
have the slightest idea what the Tax Code actually says. Instead,
the "professionals" parrot the government line: "No
judge will agree with you, and you'll wind up in prison." No
answers, just threats.
How can it be moral for government to force people to hand over
their wealth, their property, and their hard-earned income, at any
level? Let's face it. Taxation is a form of legalized theft. Legalizing
stealing doesn't make it any more moral. It just makes it legal.
Our Founders made it VERY clear what kind of taxation is acceptable,
and the income tax is contrary to every thing this country was built
upon. I believe the income tax, and how it operates today, has nothing
to do with money. It has to do with control and fear. The income
tax has, in fact, become a pretext for an increasing violation of
the private domain, and surveillance of all Americans. It keeps
the citizens of the US in line, and takes their focus away from
the real and important issues that are destroying our country. This
is why I believe this Panel will not have the courage to make any
significant changes to the status quo.
When we have a Panel trying to decide what kind of taxation to have,
we miss the point. When we have people, like me, writing to the
committee, and giving my opinion on which kinds of taxes are proper,
we miss the point. It’s like a magician. While your attention
is in one place, the action (the magic) is happening in a different
place. While we focus on the proper ways to steal money from our
citizens, our government is spending without limits. We could go
to a flat tax or a national sales tax, but then who wants a 40%
flat tax? Who wants a national sales tax, if it adds 35% to the
retail price of everything we buy? In other words, why change the
tax structure when it’s really all about spending? If we accept
that Congress needs $2.5 trillion from us, and more each year, the
only question left is from whom it will be stolen. Representative
Ron Paul has said, “Until the federal government is held to
its proper constitutionally limited functions, tax reform will remain
a mirage.”
I don’t believe that our income tax system needs to be reformed.
I believe it needs to be discarded. All the money we need to operate
a government that our founding fathers envisioned can be collected
as laid out in Article 1 of the Constitution. We need to control
the monster that is government. We can never satisfy the gluttonous
monster, with all of his wars and programs and handouts. The only
Panel we really need is a Panel of men and women of principle
and courage to put a leash on the monster, and to set our
people free.
Peace and Prosperity,
Lorenzo “Zo” LaMantia
March 11, 2005
Zo LaMantia is CEO of Stratia Corporation, a producer of alternative
educational programs and resources. Stratia hosts a live Tele-seminar
every Thursday at 10 PM Eastern, in which we interview the foremost
experts on free market economics, limited government, holistic health,
and alternative news Send Zo an email at zo@stratia.net,
or visit the Stratia website at www.stratia.com/prosperity.
|
