The customers might pay with an anonymous digital currency, perhaps issued by a private bank and backed by hard assets, and the U.S. government can't track the money. If taxes are too high, people can just move to a foreign country but keep their jobs. Think of all the occupations that don't require anything more than a telephone and a computer with Internet access. Rahn figures that the government will either try to tighten its grip on our finances with new measures to track our money, or accept that it's a whole new ballgame and offer a competitive tax system that won't encourage people to move themselves or their cash offshore. Income taxes and taxes on savings and investment would go away.
Recent experience says no.
The negative reaction was swift and severe, and any similar attempt to attack our privacy will fail. It's time for the government to embrace the future. And that means it's almost time for you to say goodbye to the old 1040. To talk back to James Freeman, click here .