Discussing Solutions to American Problems

Join the debate on real solutions to pressing American issues that matter.

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Income, Property, & Fair Trade

Income and property taxes are often too high and too difficult to process. Foreign ownership of manufacturing processes, materials, and products needs review and taxation.

Tax solution requirements:

1. Make income taxes simple, predictable, and fair.

2. Balance the Government budget

3. Delete excise taxes

4. Replace all State property taxes with a services tax approved by those impacted. Property owners should agree to the roads and infrastructure paid by their taxes (bonds?). Property owners should not be taxed to support schools or statewide projects.

5. Increase the tax on foreign ownership of any American asset.

The first solution to these problems is to replace all income tax codes with a flat tax that can only be applied once (no value-added tax). Making the Government spend within the parameters of collected revenue will require representation changes in the American government. Politicians make ‘deals’ behind closed doors and often classify the process to remove any transparency. This corruptible practice must be criminalized or exposed. Exposure may/will lead to the recognition of illegal activity.

If most industries rarely pay taxes, why should the tax rate on businesses matter? It matters because taxes raise the cost of products to the consumer. For example, if a company can profit by making a widget for one dollar and is taxed 25%, they increase the widget price by 25%.

The consumer pays the tax. In a national or global market, the widget’s price becomes more competitive when a lower tax rate reduces the cost to the consumer. The consumer should notice that every business is an unpaid tax collector for the Government. When companies profit, their income is taxed.

Each hamburger is taxed by the fed, state, and local Governments. A lower tax rate makes hamburgers cheaper, and more get sold, which generates more revenue. More competition for employees to sell more hamburgers often results in higher wages, increasing revenue. It is a balancing act. Too high a tax decreases production; too little, and Government services become unsustainable. The Laffer Curve accurately defines the effects of tax rates and economic growth.[1] Generally, at some point in production, if you want less of something, tax it. Economists argue the nature of the curve, but the general concept is proven by practice.

The current tax code requires a plethora of experts to fulfill Government regulations. The Internal Revenue Service is very demanding when it comes to collecting its share of any business. The cost of processing the bureaucratic rules of the American tax code is, in itself, a tax, and woe to any citizen, corporation, or business that makes a mistake.

A flat tax would save all of America billions, not only in paying the IRS expenses but also in the myriad professionals required to fill out the contentious paperwork. A progressive flat tax can be applied across stepped ranges of income, but savings and interest should not be taxed. Likewise, the sale of private property, including inheritance, should not be taxed. Remember, if you want less of something, tax it.

There are insidious taxes that pass unseen by most citizens. Inflation is one such tax. What you earn stays the same, but what you buy costs more because the money is worth less. Revenue rises with inflated wages, and there is no escape from the tax of inflation.

Another sneaky tax is when Governments avoid raising taxes by borrowing money it does not have. Citizens must repay borrowed money. The solution to this problem is not to allow the Government to borrow money it cannot repay within a short set period determined at the time of the loan. You cannot buy a house or car with borrowed money that has no payback period required.

Simplified flat tax reforms for all income variations will alleviate the problem of tax code difficulties while creating a reasonable set rate of taxation.

Businesses should be urged to prefer producing in America. Taxing cheap foreign products that can remove American manufacturing jobs gains money from the tax and the income taxes of Americans who earn jobs. Globally aligned companies should not receive American incentives. Businesses advertising a dislike for America, American capitalism, or free markets should not acquire any favors of any kind from any government entity.

Product dumping by foreign businesses must be addressed before they bring American companies to bankruptcy, not after. Taxing what you do not want will help contain unfair global business practices.

Taxing property, however, makes every property purchase subject to being taken by the Government–State, local, or Federal. Individuals can buy property, lose their income, and suddenly lose their property. This process is not kicking people who are down; it is burying them. It is cruel.

No citizen owns property in a country that allows the government to take away ownership. Citizens in America are only renting homes from their government. They will lose their land if they miss payments. The capability to steal from citizens also encourages corruption. What would anyone do to keep their property?

The avenue for corruption in this area should be obvious, but most citizens currently ignore it. A state can make a law that a small operator cannot afford to implement. The small operator loses income, land, home, and lifetime improvements that may cross generations. The small business’s competitors can purchase the operation and reward the politicians who created the restricting laws with generous political donations. Citizens who purchase land should not be forced to pay rent to a government entity.

Landowners must agree to land services taxes. The landowners who use the improvements can vote on and approve roads, energy, facilities, and maintenance bonds. Bonds may be a practical application for significant improvements like roads, power, and sewage.

The only exception to disallowing any government entity to tax property involves the foreign ownership of American land, which must be taxed. Even in today’s tax structure, a foreign government would not have to invade America when they could simply purchase it. Foreign ownership would include corporations or businesses with foreign stakeholders greater than twenty percent of the entire company, not only the portion or spinoff located in America.

Most American landowners holding vast areas, up to two million acres, are involved with lumber or cattle. A country or enemy can defeat America by buying American farmland. Managing the food supply is cheaper and less costly than war. Food costs and production controls can make citizens complacent without destroying the infrastructure and production capabilities. The current process of conquering a country by converting citizens to seek self-destruction is slow, destructive, and risky because there is always a chance that citizens will awaken with a desire to keep their republic. A band of oligarchs could accomplish the same takeover, and it should be noted that foreigners already own over twenty-seven million acres of American land.[2][3] A Chinese company purchased Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork product producer, representing twenty-five percent of the pork industry in the United States. The purchase was approved in 2013 by the U.S. Treasury Department in a closed-door, classified meeting. The Bank of China approved the loan to Shuanghui, now named the W. H. Group, of four billion dollars in one day.[4] Foreign banks supporting foreign enterprises controlled by a communist country now own 25% of America’s pork industry.

Asking what transpired in the classified meeting that approved the purchase would be a rhetorical question. The processing of a pig is not classified, and corruption rarely exists in daylight.

America must reduce its trade with China and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) -owned companies. Initially, medical supplies and medicines must be produced in America. Other manufactured goods must be curtailed over a period of time, reducing the supply and allowing American businesses to create goods. A ten percent reduction per year will enable Chinese corporations to adapt to a final twenty percent maximum allowable production based on 2012 levels of imported goods. Yes, we are addressing toasters, convection ovens, car parts, and more. China is not a friendly nation, but they make many drugs used by Americans.[5]

Taxes impact trade, businesses, and consumers; why don’t we have an easy-to-understand flat tax rate?

The Internal Revenue Service, IRS, is a Government weapon wielded against criminals, companies, and political opponents. It is a money-gathering extortion system embroiled in corruption. Taxes are also used to control the populace, reward some, and punish others while diminishing the alleged free-market enterprises of the U.S.A.

Over 2600 pages of statutes in Title 26 of the U.S. tax code exceed one million words. The Federal Tax Code has 44,000 pages, 5.5 million words, and 721 different forms.[6]

The last presidential candidate who campaigned on a policy of flat tax rates did not win the election. This is because taxes seem transparent to many earners who don’t know they pay taxes on every single item they purchase. Many feel they do not pay taxes, but they do. Companies require lawyers or tax experts to fill out forms in specific details to avoid the destructive force of the IRS. The consumer pays for them. Thousands of tax preparers work to fill out the paperwork of many citizens. The consumer buys their services to maximize a refund of taxes paid before they are due at the end of the tax cycle.

Some states do not tax bread purchased at local markets, but the Federal Government taxes the income from selling grain before it becomes flour.[7]

The government scrutinizes private dealings because secret transactions are the foundation of criminal activities sometimes performed by covert government operations.

Governments feast on impoverished property-owners by treating their taxed land as carrion, allowing corporate vultures to eat the body of any dying business and absorbing those who may only be wounded and struggling to survive.

[1] https://www.thebalance.com/what-is-the-laffer-curve-explanation-3305566

[2] https://nationalistwire.com/2020/05/foreigners-now-own-27-3-million-acres-of-american-land-equal-to-entire-state-of-ohio/

[3] https://www.technocracy.news/foreigners-own-30-million-acres-of-prime-u-s-farmland/

[4] https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whos-behind-chinese-takeover-worlds-biggest-pork-producer

[5] https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-care/u-s-officials-worried-about-chinese-control-american-drug-supply-n1052376

[6] https://taxfoundation.org/how-many-words-are-tax-code

[7] https://www.ers.usda.gov/webdocs/publications/41302/19671_aer800_1_.pdf?v=0