The current U.S. Federal taxing scheme is exasperating if not convoluted and intentionally vague to incomprehensible.  Any belief that fair is a concept in governmental oversight, only needs to look at the IRS for re-evaluation.  There is not lack of proposals of change to manipulate and recalculate.  It is only a matter of whom to bestow gracious favor.  The government is in the business of choosing winners and losers. Economically “fair” is a concept that is misplaced in a fluid and vibrant free market.  Fair requires a static economy that can be studied and managed.  Keynesian’s believe such managing of the economy is achievable with their diligent studies, charts and graphs.  So it should not be surprising that government and central bank collude to impress and befuddle with their omnipotent grandeur.  The only practical reasons for such deception is to cover a theft a plundering of the citizens of magnitude.

The call for governmental reform and transparency resonates with the populace, so politicians echo sanctimoniously. The speeches passionately delivered and warmly received, will in the end provide no  resolution from dissonance.  There will be unending debates and ridicule of solutions, those endangering the power structure, vehemently denounced as radical.  The messenger  will be derided as inept and conspiratorial, quickly vanquished by hyperbole.  Remember the King tyrant deemed us  radicals for demanding liberty.  The importance of this action is not to lecture to innocence, but to  take away the pleas of ignorance.  For if we are to have a government of the people, the people are responsible for safeguarding their freedom and liberty.  Government no matter it’s intentions is by nature oppressive.

Freedom and liberty is the ability to make decisions unencumbered regarding life and property, without impinging on the natural rights of others. In 1913 the U.S. Government became chief arbitrator and enforcer of bestowed rights with the 16th amendment.  The importance of understanding that the government decides how much prosperity your allowed to keep, not how much you pay. The government by determining the allocation  of the fruit of labor transitioned the American people into a slave master relationship.  For those that would claim the nation will implode without the 16th need only look at 1912 surpluses.  No legitimate reform in taxation can be achieved without first abolishing the 16th amendment.

The first proposal for a tax reform bill should be to abolish the 16th amendment, replacing it with nothing.  Any proposal that maintains the 16th by either manipulating or shrinking the tax code needs to be rejected out of hand, including any iteration of the FLAT TAX.  The proposal of the VAT/BCT tax is a reminder of attempts to hide the true cost of government and is intellectually misleading. The need to return to a constitutional limited government may need a transitional taxing scheme to pave the way to prosperity. Reluctantly the FAIR TAX would be more advantageous to the American people.  The provision of a “pre-bate”, political appeasement tactic, should be left on the table as the embodiment of socialism through a monthly government check.  Consumers  reminded daily by the receipt in their hand of the high cost of government will demand a decreasing rate, until a proper limited government is achieved.

Next time I’ll focus on the printing tax, the largest tax ever imposed on the American people.

Two years ago I was hanging out with the “Adopt a Greyhound” folks.  Good people, involved voluntarily in a charity with good intentions and documented success.  Jokily,  I stated that because of my none routine lifestyle, adopting any dog would be cruel.  I reasoned that since dogs are very social animals I probably could only keep a turtle or cat.  Two days later I was presented with one free kitten as my cat, making me the designated cat owner in the Adopt a Greyhound program.  It turns out this fully armed indoor/outdoor cat that allows me to live in her house has been a good fit.  However, no matter how good the fit, I can’t afford another free cat!

Free is a relative term, is it free as a whole or partial.  Is it free on a ongoing bases or just initially.  In marketing and sales, free is a technique to motivate a buyer to commit.  For example, children are motivated in the cereal aisle or fast food establishments with enticing free toys, motivating the parent to comply. As adults we are bombarded with offers of BOGO’s, buy one get one, or other offers to facilitate a purchase now instead of later.  This sales technique is called squeezing the balloon, visualize a elongated balloon being squeezed on one end, inflating the other end. The seller is much more aware of the true expense and profits, making their nut, than the buyer, stressing emphasis on the great deal and not the bottom line.  For the technique to work the buyer must be convinced they are receiving something for nothing, which they are not.  No seller, I repeat no seller in a successful business gives anything away for free without
something of greater value in return.  Breaking even on the balance sheet is not an option, without profit a business is only a hobby.

So you may ask, “How does this relate to politics?”.  Well, government is in the business to facilitate itself, ever growing.  To achieve this bureaucratic creep they must sell their customers, us, are getting something of greater value.  The sales technique is the same, recently the federal government had a great example of a hugely successful sales program called, “Cash4Clunkers”.  The sales pitch was, Free Money for a New Car!  Without getting into the detail that the money isn’t free, but an example of monetary inflationary governmental practices, I will just focus on the sale.   In the car biz the hardest part in selling cars is getting buyers on the lot.  Once there, are they real buyers or tire kickers? With real buyers, what needs to be done to “de-horse” them out of their current ride and into new wheels?  Traditionally the car sellers have to do horse trading, negotiating on prices for the new car and the trade-in, factoring
financing and extended warranties.  Very rarely does a buyer come in that pays cash and/or does what is called a “lie-down”.  Urgency is the word for the day in sells every day.  Having time constraints, real or imagined, is crucial to motivate a purchase TODAY!  So how has the federal government helped to motivate the buyer, by picking up the down payment and remedying that pesky trade-in negotiating.  How has the federal government motivate the seller, by bringing customers to them that would not appeared on their on and did away with that pesky trade-in negotiating.    Everything else in the car deal is still in play.  Now that the government has de-horsed the customer and destroyed the car, the making of the artificially produced lie-down sell is underway.

The unsuspecting patsy is under the illusion that the government money for the down payment is guaranteed, if so the contract would read as such.  The customer is always ultimately responsible for any “consideration”,  not the government.  As a rule of thumb, if the customer and their clunker qualified for the program they most likely are the least able to afford a change in terms.  Now with the windfall of additional sells traffic on the showroom floor, the seller can use the time restraints of the government program to demand full MSRP (MSRP has built in profit padding), or make additional padding of the sell price.  I suspect in the very near future the default rate on car loans associated with the Free Money bait for clunkers will sink those into a financial abyss, that they on their own would not of participated.

This concept of free to motivate citizens into action that is detrimental to themselves should not ever be by the hands of government at any level. Presently governments are promoting programs that can not sustain themselves beyond their initial funding and/or require a level of corporatism that should shock any voter.  FREE Trains with FREE station parking, local and State for example.  Where is this demand coming from other than from politicians and those that build public transportation.  Recently the  new revenue enhancement program for local coffers with FREE intersection cameras has grown, not surprisingly.  Incentives for more tickets written, more money for the companies that install FREE cameras. The list can go on and on.  We as citizen must be clear to our political leaders we are interested in FREEDOM, not free gimmicks. We as taxpayers can only afford so many FREE CATS!