Poverty should never be the goal of a government tax structure, yet our income tax is designed to keep working people poor. Hidden corporate taxes raise the wholesale cost of goods and services while the 7.65 percent payroll tax ensures less take-home pay for buying goods and services.
Although the wealthiest avoid paying federal income taxes thanks to deductions, their investment capital needed for job creation is forced overseas to avoid capital gains taxes. Not only do the working poor get poorer and the wealthy shift capital overseas, our industries can’t compete in global markets. Capital gains taxes are 11.5 percent higher than the average tax rate for the 34 nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). And with our corporate tax being the highest in the world, there is little incentive for foreign investment to come to the U.S.
A consumption tax, The FairTax Act of 2013, filed in the House on Jan. 3 with a record number (53) of first-day co-sponsors, ends personal income taxes, business income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains taxes, estate and gift taxes and alternative minimum tax. It generates equal tax revenues while creating jobs. Learn more at www.fairtax.org.
Beverly Martin
