5 sneaky tax deductions

Tax stuff for normal people...  The tax code for low to medium is as simple as it gets.  1040ez is one page long.  If you're looking for special loopholes there are none because there are no extraordinary circumstances to get your arms around.  Earn money, pay a percentage, done.  If you're looking to look like the big boys, you've become one of them, and the focus of your own frustration.  Otherwise, you're asking for hand-outs and grants, which everybody would have to pay for.  Cash for clunkers?  I wasn't buying a car at the time.  First time home buyers?  I wasn't buying a home.  I paid for those hand outs as well as everybody else.

Maybe an opt out clause where we don't have to pay taxes on money collected from us, and spent on garbage I don't like, like payment to people who weatherize their own windows.  Pay for your own darn windows.  Now that's a tax revolt!  Oops.  If everybody opted out, the only person left to pay the tax is the guy buying the caulking, for his own window, which he subsidized with his own money, managed by the federal government.  Where can I get some of that?

    Why not a FEDERAL SALES TAX on EVERYTHING being bought by the end user----an air filter that I buy for my car is taxed but one bought by Ford to put in a car on the assembly line is not taxed AT THAT TIME. Foodstuffs bought by a restaurant are not taxed but the meal they prepare is taxed when I wander in and enjoy it. A house would perhaps be taxed monthly as a percentage of the principal paid. There would be no LOOPHOLES, no deductions, no paying under the table. How many manufacturers would move back to the US if there were no Corporate taxes? How much more competitive would US manufacturers be on the TOTALLY untaxed goods they export? Goods imported by US retailers would contribute to Government income when they are sold----in effect a tax on imports. A couple of common sense exemptions might be most medical care and college tuition. An individual would have some control over the taxes he pays----a person buying a pound of hamburger would pay less tax than the one buying a pound of filet mignon. Junk food sales would probably suffer when people start cooking a bit more; that would be good.

    Money earned in the US (and untaxed) would need to be taxed if it were moved offshore. This would prevent "cheating" by those that would otherwise earn money here and then use that money to buy a villa in some foreign country.

    Poorer people would end up paying more than their fair share----one way to level the field would be to refund a fixed amount (based on the poverty income level) to EVERYONE that has a Social Security number. Those high living UN delegates would not get this refund. but would still be paying taxes on everything they buy here. In many cases this would represent a return to the US of Foreign Aid money they get from us. 

    More thought would be needed before implementing a National Sales Tax but it would help the US to do a drastic rethink of the current system. This thought might best be done by THE PEOPLE and not the POLITICIANS----after​ all they are the ones responsible for what we now have. A "flat tax" on income is often talked about, but a "flat tax" on spending would be more equitable in that income would no longer need to be "hidden" or otherwise "protected" How much better would you feel if a much smaller IRS would send YOU a quarterly refund check instead of you sending them one? Another thought----how much cheaper would stuff be if all the taxes presently incorporated into the selling price were no longer there? After all THE CONSUMER pays almost all of the taxes----Corporate Taxes are tacked onto the sales price----so you might quit thinking that "RICH CORPORATIONS" can afford to pay high taxes---because you the consumer are actually paying them.

    Another tax used by some countries is a value added tax (VAT) where everything is taxed every time it is bought and sold. This is only beneficial to the accountants----the end user pays it all in the end.

    Have fun thinking about this concept-----especial​ly as APRIL 15th nears.       

justoneguy wrote:

This is sure to NOT be a popular post...but the reason is, that the folks you refer to, pay almost no tax ALREADY!!

Tell that to my brother and sister, both of whom are single and both of whom work factory jobs, thus paying more in taxes than you probably ever have.

To MSN Money, why don't you address any possible tax advantanges for people that are "Single" and/or "Retired" and /or "On Fixed Income" and/or "Non'Home Owners", etc.? Not everyone is a Family-Oriented Home Owner.

This is sure to NOT be a popular post...but the reason is, that the folks you refer to, pay almost no tax ALREADY!!