I will start to tell you my vision for America. The first of the 10 laws I would pass a your president is: The Flat Tax. I would scrap the whole tax code and install a 15% flat tax on income. This way Warren Buffet doesn't have to worry about his secretary. All joking aside, our tax code now is over 70,000 pages which is a burden to business and us the average citizen. I know everyone loves their deductions but this would bring your overall rate down and just make life easier for everyone. Over the next few week their will be more of our platform to come. Here are a few facts about our tax code:
1) In 1913, the federal tax code was 400 pages long. Today, it's grown to about 70,000 pages. That's 50 times longer than Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace.
2) Since the beginning of 2001, there have been over 3,250 changes to the tax code -- an average of more than one a day. More than 500 changes were made in 2008 alone.
3) In order for the IRS to print all the paper they need, over 300,000 trees are cut down every year. (Just one more reason to consider filing online.)
4) Every year, U.S. taxpayers and businesses spend roughly 7.6 billion hours preparing their taxes.
5) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are roughly 311 million people in the United States. That's 24.4 hours of tax-prep work for every man, woman, and child in the country.
6) The U.S. tax code is so confusing, that 82% of taxpayers pay for help.
7) Taxpayers spend $27.7 billion a year preparing their taxes.
The Flat Tax is starting to look good isn't it. I promise I will start updating the blog more and hope you start sharing comments. Maybe we can get a nice conversation going about the issues of the day.
Platt Robertson
Write-in candidate for President
