Burnt Orange Report

http://www.texasgop.org/library/RPTPlatform2004.pdf

"Tax Burden Federal Tax Reform - Federal tax reform is required and any reform should support free enterprise, economic growth, be simple and fair and support job retention in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service is unacceptable to U. S. taxpayers! The Party urges that the IRS be abolished and the Sixteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution be repealed. We further urge that the personal income tax, inheritance (death) tax, gift tax, capital gains, corporate income tax, and payroll tax be eliminated. We recommend the implementation of a national retail sales tax, with the provision that a two-thirds majority of the U.S. House and U.S. Senate is required to raise the rate. Such reforms will encourage investment and economic growth. Such a sales tax plan must ensure that no one in America pays taxes of any kind on the necessities of life, ensuring opportunity and quality of life for low- and fixed-income Americans. We believe every tax at every level should be a separate !
and clearly visible billing to the taxpayer, regardless of type of tax, and of calculation method, so we support tax visibility in all forms."

Hastert is a complete idiot. He is little more than a stand-in for Tom DeLay.
No shock that part of the TX GOP platform ended up in the Speaker's book.

An interesting idea, but another thing I doubt those backing this plan have not considered is the job loss of many accountants. There is sort of a cottage industry that has developed around taxation,m with CPA's and personal accountants who are dependent on the people being confused by our tax system.

If we were to totally change the tax system in a way that got rid of the IRS (wouldn't they still be needed to monitor the new way we'd collect money? I mean, humans are still humans and people will still figure out ways to cheat, right?), you can bet that the accounting industry would be one profession the GOP would lose forever.

Last we week we got mailers from our new (thanks to redistricting) congeressman, Culberson TX-7th, where he self-rightiously proclaimed that his number one goal is to eliminate the IRS. Not terrorism, or child health care, or abortion, or gay marriage. No, his foremost priority legislatively is to eliminate the IRS.

As Wonkette says "stroke the base, stroke the base". Hastert et al have to understand the the chances of eliminating the IRS are zero - far too many corporations giving money to elected officials depend on the complexities of the tax code. But all this stuff sounds so good to the uneducated voters who make up the base of the Republican Party.

In response to suhr guy's comment: The national sales tax in place of income tax is a fiscally conservative platform, which is appealing to accountants. As a CPA, I can tell you that this type of tax reform is a good idea for our country, and it is being well thought out and researched; it will not ruin accountant’s support for the GOP. There will be plenty of accounting jobs created as a result of the transition since there will be a need for compliance testing (as you mentioned – somebody needs to check on the companies collecting the sales tax), and finally accountants will be able to perform their jobs without having to find the very fine line between integrity and obeying the law and pushing the envelope on behalf of their client. Many of todays accountants are not involved in tax preparation anyway; most are in business management consulting, financial analysis and management and even personal financial management, since individuals are finding less and less time these days to manage their own finances. In fact, many so-called “tax preparers” that work for companies like H&R Block aren’t even CPAs or accountants. They go to a training class on how to input data into a computer, and then shoot out tax returns in quantities by the minute. Their pay isn’t much more than some retail store manager’s pay. Furthermore, TurboTax and other software products present just as much of a problem to the tax preparation field as tax reform. More and more people are finding out how easy it is to do it yourself. So I don’t agree that the GOP would lose the support of the accounting profession. In fact, most accountants are conservative in nature and already back the GOP’s fiscally conservative policies.

As a home business owner, I realize that there is a huge need for tax reform. Here is the problem with the current system. 1. It is way too complicated. 2. It supports Large companies and stifles independent business owners. 3. It also stifles the small investor because of double taxation on investments. (Companies don't want small investors anyway) 4. It hampers our ability to handle other financial responsibilities such as medical insurance.
Anybody who thinks the US can't do without the IRS should think again. I support the speakers plan. Some of you don't know this, but the 16th. amendment WAS NEVER PROPERLY RATIFIED in the first place. Go research this for yourself, I dare you.