April 18 – U.S. Tax Day (April 30 for Canadians)

Did you know: In the U.S., the usual April 15 IRS filing deadline has been extended by 3 days this year, thanks to a weekend and a D.C. holiday called Emancipation Day. One of the few breaks you can get from the IRS.

A little trivia about taxes: In the 1730s, all residents paid the same tax. Benjamin Franklin circulated an essay decrying “the inequity of this tax -  since a poor widow housekeeper - paid as much as the wealthiest merchant.”

This led to a reform law with a tax that was proportional to the property. Ben’s proportional tax — the greater the wealth, the higher the percentage assessed — resembles the U.S. federal income tax, enacted in 1913, with its progressive rate.

In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.

–Benjamin Franklin

New Economic Stimulus Plan: Suspend the Personal Income Tax

Congress is getting an earful from their constituents over the bailout program and taxes. The U.S. public has become accustomed to learning of misappropriations of funds, pork barrel spending, earmarks, and the like. It is not unheard of to learn that a politician did not pay their fair share of taxes. But when the federal government wants to use our tax dollars to bail out every company who is experiencing hard times for the purpose of ‘stimulating’ the economy, we need to rethink our governments spending strategy.

With hundreds of thousands of layoffs every month now, input into the treasury’s coffers are slowing down. Typically, when a company’s income starts waning they raise prices to existing customers to cover the deficit. What is the government going to do in this same situation? Raise taxes?

It is going to be a hard sell, especially when we learn of politician who vote for these raises are not paying their share and still receive annual pay raises.

I think the best way to get this economy back on the right track is to suspend the personal income tax. Allow us, the individuals who still have jobs, to use that money that currently goes to pay our politicians, to decide how to best spend our money. Only then will politicians experience the real pain of facing the threat of not having a paycheck to put food on the table. Maybe being forced to feel what it is like to face possible eviction from their family home will they be ‘stimulated’ to pass some meaningful legislation.