As Tax Day approaches

Many Americans who have until now been procrastinating will scramble to either sit down and do their own taxes, or fork out the cash for H&R Block.

An ordinary working person should be able to just sit down and figure out his/her taxes in less than 5 minutes, but alas, this is not the case.

We have in this country, between personal and corporate taxes, a tax code 4 times longer than War and Peace. It's 2.8 million words according to Professor Michael Graetz, in a November 2004 editorial in the New York Times.

The easiest thing in the world for taxes would be to have a Flat Tax a la Steve Forbes' proposal. Let's allow every inidividual to earn $30,000 per year, and his/her deductions are the $30 k allowance, retirement account contributions, health insurance premiums/health savings account contributions, and a deduction of $2500 per child/dependent. After all of these deductions, a rate of 15% would be paid on remaining income, if any.

Both the $30,000 allowance AND the $2500 child/dependent deductions MUST be indexed for inflation, so that we don't find ourselves in the same debacle as we currently do with the Alternative Minimum Tax.

Having this standard 15% rate in place would prevent people like John Kerry and Teresa Heinz-Kerry from doing what they did in 2003, which was to earn $6.8 million and only pay $700,000.

Warren Buffett recently complained the tax code is unfair, stating he pays a lower rate than his secretary. Well don't worry, Warren, that problem would go away under my system.
And uh, hey Warren, by the way, you don't need to write the government a check, but if you wouldn't mind, could you write me a check for say, $26 grand so I can finally stop having to pay my student loans. Appreciate it, buddy.

Personal taxes aside, let's also remember that the Good Ole' U.S. of A has the second highest corporate tax rate in the world. That needs to change. That needs to be lowered.