By Congressman Allen West
…and remember, if you decide that your future includes another four years of President Barack Hussein Obama, you will experience the largest tax increase in American history starting 1 January 2013. Tax Day is not just a day for requiring American citizens to cut their annual check to Uncle Sam; it is an opportunity to highlight a series of facts and figures to examine the merits of U.S. tax policy. Given the recent increased discussion surrounding tax reform, this information can assist in determining the most prudent direction to pursue reform:
1. The Impact of the President’s “Buffett Rule†Proposal:
- President’s proposed tax increase would require Americans making over $1 million per year to pay an effective tax rate of at least 30%. The President stated of the Buffett Rule “…if applied to our tax code, could raise enough money†to “stabilize our debt and deficits for the next decade…This is not politics; this is math.â€
- According to the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Buffett Rule would raise $47 billion over ten years. The President’s budget calls for adding $6.7 trillion to the national debt. The Buffett Rule would cover ½ of 1 percent of the President’s spending plan.
- If the government collects the Buffett Rule tax for 250 years, it would not cover the Obama deficit for 2011 alone.
- The Buffett rule would pay for 17 days of the President’s deficit spending over the next 10 years.
- The House passed Republican budget lowers the debt 62 times more than the Buffett Rule.
2. The Complex, Inefficient, and Inequitable Internal Revenue Code:
- Americans are taxed too much and too often. The average American employee will work 107 out of the 365 days per year to pay federal, state, and local taxes. 29.3% percent of their year is spent working for the government.
- In 1955 there were 409,000 words in the entire tax code. There are now 3.8 million words in the tax code.
- There are at least 480 tax forms on the Intern Revenue Service (IRS) web site. As a result of this complexity, it takes 300,000 trees each year to create and distribute all necessary tax forms.
- To deal with such a convoluted code, the IRS employs 114,000 people. That is double the amount of employees at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and five time the amount of employees at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
- Americans have been working countless hours to comply with our nation’s burdensome tax code, 6.1 billion hours a year according to the National Taxpayer Advocate.
3. The Tax Code and American Competitiveness:
- On April 1, 2012 the United States claimed the mantle of having the highest statutory corporate tax rate in the world at 39.2%.
- According to the World Bank, there have been 133 major corporate tax cuts globally since 2006. None of which were enacted by the U.S.
- Of the 33 non-U.S. Organization of Economic Cooperative Development (OECD) countries, 28 cut their corporate rate during the past ten years while two had no change.
- 2012 marks the 21st year in which the U.S. corporate tax rate has been above the average of OECD nations.