Sorry, darlings, but it's getting close to tax time, and you know what that means. For those of us who itemize, all those little pieces of paper need to be ordered and put into Tax Preparation forms generated by accountants all over the country.
I finished with my slips of paper, scanned the tax prep form, and emailed them to my accountant on Friday. Done and done. Relief. Pride. Embarrassed to be proud. All that was operating.
Then I got to thinking about the waste of time, energy, and paper and suddenly I was mad.
Our current tax system is antiquated. I think most of us can agree on that.
Our current tax system is punitive. Agreed.
Our current tax system is long overdue for overhaul. Agreed.
But how? Here is where no one can agree.
Years ago, when Steve Forbes ran for president one of his major platform planks was a Flat Tax. It caused a bit of a flurry at the time, but then the flurry died down and then died.
Several economists have suggested a point-of-service tax. This means that the consumer has control over how much tax she pays. It would depend upon whether she chose a Mercedes or a Ford, if you take my drift.
Recently, in these pages, Deborah Szekely recommended a V.A.T dedicated solely to deficit-reduction. What a great idea.
I think a combination of all three is warranted, and I don't begin to know how to do this, but I know there are tax wizards who do know. Bring 'em on.
The issue I want to address is the vestigial gathering of deductions that is time- and energy- consuming not to mention paper ergo trees. Why are we doing this? To pay less tax. Wouldn't a point-of-service tax do this?
Why do our legislative bodies shy away from addressing this issue?
Why isn't an overhaul of the tax system happening right now?
Why are we putting up with this?
Call your legislators and demand an overhaul of our tax system. It will save us time, money and trees -- each, and all, more valuable that preserving an out-of-date, out-of-phase tax system.
For spiritual nourishment, visit Dr. Susan Corso's website and blog, Seeds for Sanctuary. Follow her on Twitter @PeaceCorso and Friend her on Facebook.