What would you change if you were the president

[Pacun]

This is a quote about EIC.

"ok- that's what I thought, but geezsh - I just can't believe the credits given to some, and the ones that work hard and have a decent income, don't get anything. I have a lot of clients this year who earn to much for the "work to pay" credit; who have paid for their children to go to school, but have too much income to get a credit; who can't qualify for a deduction for student loan interest. And I have clients getting hit with AMT. Then there's these people - I'm sure she collects other benefits from the county and state, not to mention free lunches at school, and eventually free ticket to college."

It doesn't seem fair that the government taxes a group of people and the others just take a free ride and lunch included. The government takes a lot of money from some people and give a bunch to other people. Most of the time this goes from generation to generation.

What would you change if you would have the power to change at this point of the game? Do you know how much it will cost the government to take out pennies from circulation? I mention the pennies because some of your answers will cause a lot of other issues and costs.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

As we all know, it isn't the president that makes the tax law it is, as you note, Congress. That same Congress that allows those with mortgages to deduct the interest and real estate taxes from taxable income - for years, even generations. And encourages the deduction for charitable contributions so that organizations can take care of the poor, the wretched, the whatever, not our 'faith based' society. A deduction against taxable income to lower taxes not necessarily to encourage charitable giving. Why should people think about how big a deduction they can get by giving away money or used clothing and household items?

Because they are there, I take advantage, and educate clients about such, too, of these benefits that are manipulations of society via the tax code but lots of the tax code is slanted 'unjustly,' not just EIC and the like. I really find those distateful when abused but have seen often how a small assist can make a big difference in the lives of many who don't have lobbyists or opportunities like I have had.

I am inclined to a flat tax with all its problems. It just somehow seems more fair than the mess we have now with the poor and the very rich, too, always finding every way possible to pay less and get more.

Off my soapbox...

[JohnH]

If I were president, I'd change presidents.

And although I'm not president, my answer is still the same.

Hopefully that task will be accomplished in about 20 months. :)

[RitaB]

If I had it in my power, I would back WAY off on the refundable credits. I am REALLY sick of seeing tax dollars spent that way. :angry:

[Catherine]

I'll reply to this thread after 4/19, when I have time to do it a little bit of justice.

[OldJack]

If I were president I would secure our borders with military while we issue a national identification card to those that can prove citizenship. Those without a card or valid government document would be sent back to their country immediately or after a maximum of a 30 day period in appeal. Local police would be given authority to arrest anyone without a card or proper documents. Employers of arrested illegal aliens would also be arrested and held without bail for trial. I would start a national campaign of "Just Say Alien", to encourage citizens to report suspected illegal aliens to local police. I expect this would save our country billions of dollars in entitlements, unemployment, and help solve many other social issues. This is a free country for citizens.

[Pacun]

Don't you think that the US would close the borders within a 24 hours if the ones crossing the border were terrorists that were coming to blow up buildings?

Within 24 hours not even flies would be able to cross the south border, correct?

[cred65]

I would require congress and the pres to prepare their own tax returns without the aid of a computer and tax software (calculator and abacus board allowed).

The returns would then be auditd by a new and slighly more benevolent agency than the irs, that would be headed by Hitler and Stalin (they would not be allowed to hire Jainen because he is too sweet and lenient).

There would be sentencing guidelines that would start with amputation of certain parts of the anatomy up to electrocution.

As you can see I have not been able to give this much thought in such a short timeframe. I reserve the right to edit this later.

[jainen]

>>the power to change <<

I would eliminate refundable credits, (but only to deprive conservatives of one of their favorite arguments). I would exclude the first $15,000 of W-2 wages (minimum wage), and ALL wages that currently qualify for the Domestic Producer Deduction. I would eliminate standard and itemized deductions but lower tax brackets a revenue-neutral amount, and then give an above the line deduction for charity up to 10% of modified AGI. I would tax self-employment income at the same rate as long term capital gains. I would make all government employees at all levels contribute to Social Security, but offset benefits with any government pension received (except from Veteran's Administration).

[kcjenkins]

First, I would move DST back until after the 15th of April, to give us back that much needed hour! The rest of my changes will have to wait until after 4/18, don't have time to think them through now. :spaz:

[Gail in Virginia]

I think that I could come up with several pages of things I would change if I could, but being president does not provide enough power to change most of them. I like Jainen's suggestions for tax reform, but I think the first legislation I would introduce would be the Robert Heinlein Plain Speaking Bill: If legislation or regulation is not written clearly enough to be understood by someone with a sixth grade reading ability, it is not to be considered constitutional. It should not be so difficult to understand the laws that we all live under. And this would apply to tax law and regulation along with everything else. Heinlein had some other good ideas also, although some of them were mutually exclusive!

And by the way, I think I would change the time one way or another and leave it - if you want to get up earlier in the summer, go for it!

[Catherine]

<snip>

And by the way, I think I would change the time one way or another and leave it - if you want to get up earlier in the summer, go for it!

We have a friend who goes ballistic over Daylight Saving Time and eventually he decided to set his watch to the Universal Time signal and just subtracts hours as needed depending on the date. While he's more than a little carried away, he is also extremely intelligent and incredibly well-read, and it's fun to listen to him always.

But he points out that Daylight Saving Time (NO "s" at the end of saving, BTW) was intended to save energy during the war. It has been amply demonstrated that instead of saving energy, it costs energy. So we should abolish it just on that fact alone. Plus, WE don't get gipped an hour of sleep during tax season!

[ILLMAS]

I would make the tax system more complicated then what it is already, so tax preparers have something to and not get bored I would invent a credit for people who want to work and get rid of the credit that rewards people who don't want because they chose not to.

[schirallicpa]

Hey - lets have tax prep covered by Medicare, or another gov't subsidized program - that guarantees our payment, no matter how ridiculous our charge!

And we can then charge for all those silly 6251's that pop up that we don't need, and we'll charge for the voucher, and the bill, and the letter, and the phone call to set up the appt. We could double bill, and see if they notice. And, we could mess up returns, purposely, to have to amend them later....and charge.

Oops - I'm ranting....

[Margaret CPA in OH]

Yeah, why not subsidize tax preparers? Oh, I think that already happens to a degree. As sort of noted above, every time Congress enacts tax law, especially "simplification" it is another act of job security for us. But my brain hurts with so much to remember :wacko:

[Mike D]

I have had this discussion on more than one occasion with my friends, family and peers. It seems that no matter what political persuasion you come from there is a consensus on these two issues.

Abolish lobbying laws and use a tax check off to be equally distributed among all candidates. There’s plenty more to this but I won't bore you with the details.

Term limits. All of congress should be limited to two terms only, no exceptions!

I truly believe that these two changes will put this country back on course as a powerful and free democracy.

Thanks for listening.

Mike Dubin CPA

[kcjenkins]

Federal and state term limits, yes, would be good. As a Constitutional Amendment,so they can't easily change it. I'd add, tho, another Constitutional Amendment to require a balanced budget, at the federal level. And no setting aside gazillions of things as 'Off-budget', either. Give them only three years to phase it in, so that they have to use an axe, or maybe a chainsaw, on the size of the government to meet the limits.

IT would hurt for a few years, but everyone would adapt to not being able to look to D C for everything. AR is one of the very few states that actually has a budget surplus this year. Why? Because our state Constitution does require balanced budgets. When the lawmakers spend money in Little Rock, they have to set up classifications, A projects get funded first, B projects next, IF THERE IS MONEY FOR THEM, C projects only after the A and B have been paid for, and D only if a miracle comes to pass!!! It works, folks. Just like we do in our own homes, they pay the most important things first, then on down the line, and our kids don't get billed for excessive spending done now.

[taxxcpa]

I would establish term limits: one term in congress and one term in prison.

I would require a balanced budget unless we were attacked by a foreign army.

I would end all welfare and warfare. Fighting useless, un-winnable wars has cost us billions of dollars and numerous human lives of our military who should be defending our borders instead of "nation building."

I would eliminate many federal programs and let the states handle those which should not be entirely abandoned.

I would end the income tax and set up a national sales tax with a pre-bate or rebate to ease the burden on lower incomes. I would make lobbying illegal. I would try to devise some method of selecting people for all levels of government that did not depend on massive spending and advertising to get elected. This might require eliminating political parties and replacing them with something more like a town hall or precinct convention-type system which selected representatives to the next level in some hierarchical method in which people moved to the next level based on their stated positions. We have too many congressmen, so I would reduce the number to maybe twice the number in the senate--and base it on population--if necessary, two states might need to be combined to elect one representative while another state might get four or five representatives. The senate is properly limited and gives each state an equal voice while the lower house is already based on population, but just has too many members to operate effectively.

Of course the ideal solution would be to make me dictator so I could implement all of my brilliant reforms without having to convince anyone whether I was right or wrong.

[Margaret CPA in OH]

When does the campaign begin for your dictatorship, taxxcpa? I think I want to lobby for you and your platform - so much of it makes so much more sense than what we have now. I especially like the 2 terms for legislators :rolleyes:

[TAXBILLY]

>>I would establish term limits: one term in congress and one term in prison.<<

I think Illinois has implemented that suggestion. :~)

taxbilly

[Jim Oh Bkkr]

I want tax laws for the current year that are set in stone AND have been since October 1 of last year.

We as taxpayers ought to have a month or two to prepare our finances for next years laws (rules), and we as Tax Preparers ought to have all the forms, rules, and software we need to do our job when the season starts.

Truthfully, I want a sales, consumption, use tax. I want to be in charge of the amount of tax I pay. Anyone remember the old Example:

"I am the tax man, I set the tax rate. You have a $100. How much of your 100 do I control?"

Jim

[Janitor Bob]

>>I would establish term limits: one term in congress and one term in prison.<<

I think Illinois has implemented that suggestion. :~)

taxbilly

I would create a law to limit the use of the color orange to fruit and mediocre sports teams

[jainen]

>>limit the use of the color orange<<

You can deny it all you want, infidel, but the Great Pumpkin is real!

[Eli]

I'll reply to this thread after 4/19, when I have time to do it a little bit of justice.

But you already did :-)

Eli

[Catherine]

But you already did :-)

Eli

That was just a baby reply to the side issue of Daylight Saving Time.