Dear Friend of Liberty,
Let's face it. Our liberties don't seem real every year when tax time rolls around.
Today is Tax Day: The day when hardworking American taxpayers are required to file our Federal and State Tax returns.
Every year I do this I get more and more angry. It's an annual reminder that the U.S. tax code a broken system. It's filled with a myriad of taxes and deductions, penalties and exemptions. Washington's tax system is a patchwork of special favors and election year gimmicks.
Did you know the U.S. Tax code is 3.8 million words long! That's nearly five times the size of the Bible. And four times the size of the Complete Works of Shakespeare. It's grown three times larger over the last decade! And Washington elites don't seem at all willing to fix this broken, unfair system. Americans spend 6 billion hours each year complying with the tax code. Even tax professionals who deal with these issues every day differ widely in how to apply tax policy.
The main thing to remember today as you wade through the complicated paperwork and confusing requirements is that all of this came about because politicians can't say no to special-interests or to ever-expanding government.
It's a broken system
which can never be fixed. It must be replaced.
And if Congress doesn't take action before the end of the year, we'll be even worse off! A massive tax increase is coming on January 1st. The Death Tax will soar to 55%. The Marriage Penalty returns and the exemption for children will be cut. Five new Obamacare taxes will go into effect. And taxes will increase dramatically for every American taxpayer.
The total tax increase would be nearly $5 trillion! Did you get that? On January 1st, our taxes will increase by $5 trillion if Congress doesn't act now!
Tax Day is a great time to consider where we are as a country and where we need to go from here. Americans are overtaxed, and politicians keep taking advantage of them. Washington politicians and elites who control it can't stop themselves from taking things away from you to build power and influence for themselves.
Thomas Jefferson warned all of us when he said this:
"To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt. If we run into such debts, we must be taxed in our meat and drink, in our necessities and in our comforts, in our labor and in our amusements. If we can prevent the government from wasting the labor of the people, under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy."
Well, we aren't in a happy state in this country. And we won't be until we throw away the tax code and eliminate the worst example of government out of control - the IRS.
In Liberty,
Tim Huelkamp
