It punishes work and productivity. It discourages savings and investment. It makes it hard for non-working poor people to afford to work, and it makes it harder for working poor people to save enough to become middle class. It allows more than one out of every five income tax dollars owed to go uncollected. The tax code is so filled with loopholes, exceptions and deductions that no one really understands it.
People constantly question if others pay their fair share.
It is hard for the honest to comply with, but easy for the dishonest to cheat. The real fix is to begin the new millennium with a new tax system worthy of the American people. A system with no personal income taxes, no payroll taxes, no death taxes, no capital gains taxes. No personal tax forms. This new approach has called the Fair Tax, and we recently introduced this bill in the House of Representatives.