Taxes
[The topic at hand is federal income tax. I am not addressing the myriad of other taxes that have also gotten out of hand.]
The federal government would not have near the problem collecting taxes from the American Taxpayers if the working people felt that the government was using their tax money properly. The federal government has become so used to wasting money that they throw it around by the millions now days - as if a million dollars was a small sum.
Time has proven that our nation's leaders have an attitude that the "mega" spending spree that Washington is on is not supposed to end. It's almost as if there is no one in Washington who has the intestinal fortitude to stand up and raise a real stink about this perpetual problem. With all of the billions of tax dollars that our government collects from us, our leaders have still managed to get our nation deeply in debt. The attitude seems to be that the tax dollars are actually theirs to spend at will, when in fact that tax money belongs to the American Taxpayers.
What are our leaders thinking when they pass budgets that keep our nation in perpetual debt? And what is Congress thinking when they vote themselves a pay raise when they already make plenty of money? It shows all of us that they are resigned to wasting money and being in debt. What was our president thinking when he knew that billions and billions of tax dollars would be used not only to destroy Iraq but to rebuild what we had just destroyed? Did he think that this money grows on trees? Did he even care?
This is the mentality in Washington. Congress ought to be ashamed of themselves for even thinking about a pay raise when our country is in so much debt. And our president should give every penny of his salary back to help compensate for all of the money that he wasted in Iraq. It's easy to justify not paying your taxes (but not recommended) when you see your leaders squandering your tax money - giving it away to foreign nations, wasting it on "pork barrel" projects, and even giving themselves a pay raise when they don't need to.
The whole Washington attitude towards wasting money will be changing after I talk to Congress about this problem in nationally televised meetings. The Washington mind set has to be reversed so that our leaders are looking for ways to save the money rather than ways to use it. My goal is not only to erase the national debt but to continue to gain a surplus after the debt has been erased. There is absolutely no reason for this country to be in debt at all.
I have vowed that I will not take the presidential salary until the national debt is paid off. [See Index 1 - Agenda and click on "Presidential Pledges" for more information.] I will be asking the vice president to do the same and the Congress to lower or eliminate their salaries until this national tragedy has been rectified. We will have to get serious about this ongoing foolish waste of tax dollars or the wasteful spending will continue perpetually.
I maintain that if the American Taxpayers knew that their leaders were spending their hard earned tax money properly, in a frugal manner, their attitude would be different about paying their income tax. But the reality is that the people are disheartened because it's one thing after another when it comes to our government.
I plan on restoring the trust that the people should have in their government. In fact, I expect everyone to complain about what a cheap skate I am. But it's exactly that quality that will allow us to get out of debt and gain a record surplus of money that can be used for national disasters (notice I said national - not international).
Now that you know how I feel about our government wasting our tax money, let's talk about the tax code. Do you think that our IRS tax rules are complex enough? I'd say that we're about there since the common people can't understand them. Is this what our forefathers had in mind? The system is now so complex, with thousands of pages of instructions, that the average American Taxpayer is never quite sure whether he paid too little, too much, or the proper amount.
Of course big businesses have professional tax people and lawyers who know the tricks and loopholes, but that doesn't help you and me much. And who in Washington is doing anything about this? We always hear talk, like every other problem that they talk about but never fix, but the fact is that the IRS tax rules are stupid. And it's my opinion that the American Taxpayers want some real change and deserve it. So they're going to get it.
This is another issue that will be addressed via the "Meet and Vote" process so that the American Taxpayers will be the ones deciding what the new tax code will be. If we let our elected leaders choose the changes it will get all tied up in committees and in 5 years they'll still be talking about it. This is the beauty of the "Meet and Vote" program. Not only will the American Taxpayers make the decisions but the decision making will happen quickly, in a matter of days - not years.
As for all of the political infighting and the gridlock, the bad lobbyist effect, and the rest of the Washington nonsense, it all becomes a non-factor when the "Meet and Vote" program is implemented. The will of the majority actually gets done all of the time.
As is the usual practice when the "Meet and Vote" program is being implemented, we will meet about this issue via nationally televised meetings so that all American Taxpayers will be able to watch the proceedings. "We" means the people and their elected representatives, including the president (who is always the mediator) and the vice president. As usual there will be a live audience attending who will be given the opportunity to ask questions.
Those viewers at home will be able to ask questions over the telephone and by using the internet. This is all business as usual when using the "Meet and Vote" program to settle issues that the American Taxpayers want addressed. When the American Taxpayers are finished airing their grievances and their leaders have a good idea of what the people want, they will give them their options to be voted on.
The day after the last meeting (this may require several evenings to settle) the American Taxpayers will go to the polls to vote their conscience. The majority will rule as always and the will of the people will be enacted by the Congress as soon as possible. The American Taxpayers and the media will have internet access to how the Congress goes about enacting the new laws so that everything is done on the up and up. Things done out in the open tend to be more honest.
By the way, I will not allow your leaders to come up with foolish options that the people don't want. The purpose of these meetings is for your elected leaders to get a good feel for what the people want. If they try to slow down the process by offering the people some options that sound like more Washington nonsense, I will intervene on behalf of the people and offer an option or two of my own. I reserve that right for all "Meet and Vote" sessions since I'm the president, the big cheese, the head honcho and an all round nice guy. We're not going to spend all of this time trying to figure out what the people want and then not give it to them. That's not going to happen, I can assure you.
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