A TOPICAL GUIDE TO TAXES                                                 

                                                                                                RETURN TO TOPICAL GUIDE WEBSITE 

                                                                GO TO TOPICAL GUIDE ECONOMICS

                                                                                                GO TO WEBSITE MISSION STATEMENT 11-05

FYI:

04/20/05  Speaking of reform, always a dangerous endeavor in a democracy bloated with the potential for payoff, on the subject of tax reform I would suggest that any talk of it right now, except to make permanent the temporary reforms already in place, is politically unwise.  My concern has nothing to do with deficits (that's a spending problem, not a tax problem), but rather with the fact that effective correction of the tax problems we face will require a much more Conservative political presence in Congress than is currently the case.  Very major surgery is in order  (readers of this letter understand that I advocate abolition of the whole system: see the Mountain Observer Mission Statement ), but short of that I see the danger of attempts to enact a sales tax or value added tax without taking away the income tax (as in repealing the 16th Amendment) which, in my judgment, would lead to real tax disaster.  Right now all of this is a bridge too far.  Let's just continue to whittle away at the marginal rates, and cut taxes, and cut spending faster, without getting sucked into the scam of "revenue neutrality".   We need to get beyond cutting the rate of growth, we need to institutionalize actual absolute reductions.  JES

FMOWEB 110-600 TOPICAL GUIDE TAXES