Trump should simplify tax code
Donald Trump has adopted every position on most major issues, thus it is difficult to know what he will do on the matter of taxes.
His initial plan would serve to provide tax reduction, the lion’s share of which would go to “the 1 percent,” the group which would tend to invest its savings rather than stimulate the economy by spending it.
Treasury Secretary designate Stephen Mnuchin contradicts our new leader, asserting that this will be a middle-class tax relief measure. Perhaps it depends upon what one considers to be middle class. Maybe in Donald Trump’s world that includes individuals who earn $1 million per year.
With a Republican Congress, Mr. Trump has the ability to formulate a system of taxation which would no longer tie the American people into knots as we approach each April 15. When any change is proposed in how we tax income, lobbyists can be expected to swarm, fighting to preserve their provision or loophole, facets of the system which make it so convoluted that even those who are paid to interpret it are unable to consistently do so with accuracy. Each year, we squander tens of billions of dollars and hours of our time in an effort to comport with arcane Internal Revenue Service Code. We hire professionals at great expense to help us minimize our tax burden.
A consumption tax with a means to provide a rebate to lower-income individuals would be best, but in lieu of that, the Arlen Specter method would be acceptable, a system he touted during his ill-fated run for the presidency, one which is so simple that the taxpayer could file their tax return on a postcard.
Donald Trump pledged to “drain the swamp”. One significant way to prove it would be to fight for extreme tax simplification, not tinkering around the edges with tens of thousands of Internal Revenue Service Code/gobbledygook. Such a measure would be a gift to individuals of all classes which would be implemented without accumulating more red ink on the federal balance sheet.
Oren M. Spiegler
Upper Saint Clair