The Flat Tax

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Recommended: The National Debt Problem

The national debt is growing and the government is unable to keep up under the current Progressive tax system, in the United States. A solution for the United States debt is to switch to a flat tax system. A switch to a flat tax system would simplify the tax process, it would make taxes fair and even, and it would allow the government to reduce the United States national debt. A flat tax system is a system that taxes every individual at the same percentage. It is not like any system the United States has seen before.

US Tax History

In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the US taxed a few commodities to raise revenue for the federal government. By 1817, the Government removed all taxes and solely relied on tariffs of imported goods. The United States enacted its first modern tax to support the Civil War; the tax was a progressive tax on income. With the first income tax came the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service. The Government declared the tax on income un-constitutional and then replaced it with a tax on commodities. Then in 1916, the 16th amendment legalized taxation of income. Later during World War II, the government began withholding wages to collect taxes to support the war effort. Tax Reform Act of 1986 lowered the top tax rates. The Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1990 then increased the tax rate on the rich. “President Clinton signed the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993 into law,” (History of the Income Tax, 2007). This provided tax cuts on capital gains, and it gave a child tax credit and an education incentive. President Bush then signed tax cuts that were incremental. The incremental tax cuts reduced some of the top percentages and made middle income from couples the same m...

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...April 30, 2011, from http://www.heritage.org/Research/Commentary/2003/03/Russias-Flat-Tax-Miracle

Roach, B. (2003, October). Progressive and Regressive Taxation in the United States: Who’s Really Paying (and Not Paying) their Fair Share?. Tufts GDAE Publications. Retrieved April 27, 2011, from ase.tufts.edu/gdae/pubs/wp/03-10-tax_incidence.pdf

Russia to see 20-25 pct loan growth in 2011-cbank| Reuters. (2010, November 24). Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com. Retrieved April 30, 2011, from http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/11/24/russia-cbank-loans-idUSLDE6AN1YL20101124

SOI Tax Stats - Personnel Summary, by Employment Status, Budget Activity, and Selected Type of Personnel - Databook Table 30. (2011, March 14). Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved April 26, 2011, from http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id=207735,00.html

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