The FairTax Would Live Up To Its Name
Des Moines Register Newspaper, Opinion Page - April 17, 2004
The FairTax Would Live Up To Its Name
Des Moines Register Newspaper, Opinion Page - April 17, 2004
By STEVE KING
Iowa Republican Congressman
04/17/2004The U.S. Treasury Department defines a tax as "a compulsory payment for which no specific benefit is received in return." With this week's April 15 federal tax deadline, millions of Americans may have a more colorful definition.
More than 1,200 western Iowans responded to a recent tax survey my office sent. Their answers highlight the confusion and even anger over the tax code. The answers reflect a wide range of opinion on which taxes should be eliminated, decreased or increased. The survey shows me this code breeds animosity and class envy, stress and fear. Most definitely fear. The General Accounting Office in a 1995 report noted, "In order to encourage voluntary compliance with the Internal Revenue Code, the IRS is authorized to seize and sell the assets of delinquent taxpayers and those who violate internal revenue law."
This week we concerned ourselves with numbers and percentages, but what is measurable is only half the story. The burdensome tax code is evidenced by those who cannot comprehend the law or meet its obligation. This week's tax deadline is about the $1 trillion anchor that the code forces our economy to drag each year - the cost of running the IRS, the cost of individuals and companies having their taxes figured, and the economic loss because money is spent on taxes rather than goods and services. It doesn't have to be this way. It certainly couldn't have been the intention nearly a century ago. Where did it go wrong?
This government appears far more anxious to control citizens than to protect them. The more laws, the more uncertainty that permeates private lives, and the more difficult it becomes for citizens to keep their affairs in order. In 1981-93, more than 9,000 subsections of the tax code were amended. In June 1997, the National Commission on Reform of the IRS said the code's complexity placed a severe burden on citizens.
Congress responded with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, which contained 36 retroactive changes, 114 changes effective Aug. 5, 1997, 69 changes effective Jan. 1, 1998, five changes effective thereafter, 285 new sections and 824 tax code amendments. This is just one bill. IRS officials can take years to write the regulations to implement a new law. Much of the current code is provisional - waiting to be revised according to the last tax bill passed, or already targeted for change in the next tax bill. By continually blurring the line between legal and illegal behavior, the federal government assures that many citizens are left in tax purgatory.
In our survey, 95 percent of respondents said the tax code is too complex, 91 percent said the code is unfair and 56 percent said any reform of the federal tax code should include the abolishment of the IRS.
In my mind - and 44 percent of survey respondents agree - the only way to accomplish this is to abolish the federal income tax code and move to a national sales tax. We can untax the poor. We can untax those living on fixed incomes, especially our seniors. We can unhitch the $1 trillion anchor and unleash our economy. A consumption tax, the Fair Tax, will rid our society of all other taxes, give workers 100 percent of their paycheck and make April 15 just another day of the year.
STEVE KING is a Republican congressman representing Iowa's 5th District.
