Real Tax Simplification Impossible?

[Gone4Good]

AMT is the Alternative Min. Tax, right? I've heard/read about it before, but I dont see the advantage/disadvantage of it.  I'll have to read into it more.

Anyone have a concise 1 paragraph summary of the AMT>

Thanks

The AMT is a tax code that operates parallel to the "normal" code - that is to say if you meet certain criteria you have to calculate your tax liability under the normal rules AND under the AMT rules. Naturally you pay the higher of the two rates. (The mere fact that you have to go through the process of calculating your tax liability twice is more than enough to justify its elimination). Under the AMT rules many of the traditional deductions are eliminated so taxable income is higher. Under the AMT you also use a different tax rate (26% or 28% depending on income) rather than the normal progressive tax schedules.

 

[TromboneAl]

My recollection is that the 1986 tax simplification made things more complicated.

I could do a good job of making it simpler in 8 hours, starting with the boxes for the contribution to the presidential election campaign.

 

[retire@40]

My recollection is that the 1986 tax simplification made things more complicated.

DING-DING-DING-DING-DING!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sgeeeee]

My recollection is that the 1986 tax simplification made things more complicated. 

I could do a good job of making it simpler in 8 hours, starting with the boxes for the contribution to the presidential election campaign.

It seemed to complicate things in my case. I never understood why people get so hung-up on tax brackets as complicated. Of all the things I have to do in completing my taxes, the brackets only come into play in the final calculation of tax. That final calculation requires one reference to a table, one multiplication and one addition operation. That's about the easiest thing I do. Even if we went to a flat tax, you would still have to multiply.

But the main thing to me isn't simple or complex . . . it's how much I have to pay. The 1986 changes cost me money. I would gladly have embraced more complexity in order to pay less.

 

[jazztbone]

A quote from Money.com:

"Under the proposals, taxpayers would no longer be allowed to deduct the state and local taxes they pay on wage income, investment income and property.

Former Senator John Breaux of Louisiana, who is the panel's vice chair, on CNBC Tuesday morning explained part of the panel's reasoning this way: "If people in California want to pay extra taxes to have their trash picked up, people in Texas shouldn't have to subsidize it." "

Ya, great logic, John.  One could also argue,  "if the people of New Orleans want to live below sea level, why should the people of California pay extra taxes to subsidize it?" ( No slight meant against the people of the Big Easy, just pointing out Breaux's skewed logic.)

If the people of the USA want a simpler tax code, why do we have a professional lobbyist like John Breaux serving as vice chair of the tax reform committee?  This is just going to be another exercise in number juggling that will serve special interests and whack the middle income wage earners.

 

[ktupper]

Any thoughts from the group on http://www.fairtax.org?

Also, I never understood how government co-opted the term "revenue" for money it takes out of my pocket and why most Americans buy into it.

Obviously, I'm for very, very, very limited government.   

I'm also for those who are "rich in this world to also be rich in good works." 

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well I looked up "revenue" on Websters, their definitions is:

1 : the total income produced by a given source <a property expected to yield a large annual revenue>
2 : the gross income returned by an investment
3 : the yield of sources of income (as taxes) that a political unit (as a nation or state) collects and receives into the treasury for public use
4 : a government department concerned with the collection of the national revenue

So the use of the term is (according to Websters) strictly correct

Per your tax ideas, I just don't see it happening.