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Tuesday, November 12, 2013

"The US Government has a Problem with Dead People" (Postscript and Apology)




Someone close to me, after reading the preceding blog post, felt I appeared a little cold-hearted.  I don’t really consider myself as that; but, perhaps, my writing sometimes gives that impression.

“The questionable comment was as follows:  “Such a system would instantly include all the tax freeloaders like those ‘working under the table,’ drug dealers and others involved in criminal activities, as well as the reported 50% of American citizens who currently do not pay any income taxes.”  (Part of sentence underlined for emphasis.)

Now, I do understand that many Americans live near the poverty level through no fault of their own.  Life sometimes can be very unfair – as we all know.  To those who honestly struggle to get by day to day, I am truly sorry.  I should not have included those good people in the same sentence with ‘drug dealers’ and those ‘working under the table.’

However, my post was not intended to describe an all-inclusive, fair tax system.  My post was designed to highlight the reasons for the existing fraud and the obvious incentives for fraud in the present tax system.  Even the act of exempting 50% of the population from paying federal income tax has created another incentive – the incentive to keep reported income and any possible documentable income below a certain amount.  Are all of the 50% of Americans who do not pay federal income tax cheating?  No, of course not.  Are some of them, even many of them cheating?  Yes.


True Nelson

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