Saturday, June 29, 2013

Open Meeting

America does not have a tax problem. We have a bloated government problem.

A series of scandals has pushed tax collection into the limelight.
 

Anger over tax collection draws people into the freedom movement. Tax reform is likely to be a major issue in 2014 and possibly 2016.

Unfortunately, a loud group is using the anger about the IRS to push a disruptive change called The Fair Tax.

The Fair Tax replaces the current income tax with a 23% sales tax on new goods and services. The program includes a massive new government entitlement called a "prebate." The vocal supporters use a number of questionable claims like the Fair Tax is somehow supposed to end the tax collector. What it does is replace the IRS with a different agency.

The Fair Tax uses the same basic structure as ObamaCare. It is a Federal Program mandated through the states. The states would be charged with collecting Federal Tax.

Even it the bill was not disruptive, I would consider it a bad law.

The problem is that the Fair Tax is currently poised to force their issue as the primary Tea Party Issue.

Passing the Fair Tax would require every ounce of political capital of the Tea Party and GOP. If it passes, then the Fair Tax becomes the definitive piece of legislation of the Tea Party. If it does not, the push for the Fair Tax is likely to split and destroy the freedom movement for a generation.

Wishing to avoid the Fair Tax, I challenged to debate the FairTax. To make the debate interesting, I took a thought experiment I performed a few decades ago as a counter proposal.

My counter proposal is "The Object Tax." The idea is that we could use Object Design Methods to transition from an "income tax" to a consumption tax. Object Design is used to create interfaces. It is used the Internet, Smartphones, etc..

The design starts by creating an abstract model of the current program. We then investigate news ways to implement the old design. Essentially, we would start with the existing tax structure and find different ways to implement it.

Quite frankly, it is an interesting way to explore a topic.

I doubt that supporters of the Fair Tax would take up the debate challenge. However, a Tea Party group wanting to discuss tax reform might be interested in a presentation that explores tax reform. I would be happy to give a presentation on the Object Tax followed by criticism of the Fair Tax to any group interested in a fun conversation.

The ideal meeting would combine both a presentation on free market health care and tax as the two issues are linked. If you would like to attend a meeting, please contact me.

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