FAIR taxes - a correct definition

a lot of words get redefined over time...some by public use/misuse, others by agenda driven campaigns...the latter has claimed fair as a victim

how often do we hear "fair" used while politicians and wanna be politicians are arguing over our tax system?...liberals are constantly whining that tax cuts are not "fair" because they give more to the "rich"

let's go back and find a correct definition for fair, as it relates to our tax system



start with why we pay taxes: to pay for the costs of running America...now imagine we were just a small group of people, and we needed a system to pay for the expenses associated with our group...what would be the fair way to divide up these expenses?...this is a question which seems rhetorical, seems so easy that you could ask any grammar school student, and they could supply the correct answer:

you divide the expenses equally among everyone

if your expenses are $100 and you have 10 people, fair is each person pays $10...there is no other way to define fair

now I realize we will never have a tax system where everyone pays the same amount...but can anyone logically, accurately, define fair in any other way?

so we go on, and we say, well let's all just pay a percent of our income in taxes...but do we all pay the same percent?..."no" cry the masses, "that wouldn't be fair"...so we get a graduated scale where "the rich" pay higher percentages on their income...please, you can think any socialistic thoughts you want about how good that system is, but you simply cannot call it fair!

let me give you just one example to ponder: how would you like to go to the gas station and be told: "if you make over $100,000 a year, it's $5/gallon, $50,000 to $100,000, it's $4/gallon, $25,000 to $50,000, it's $2/gallon, $10,000 to $25,000 it's free, and if you make less than $10,000 a year, we will pay you $1/gallon to take it"...sounds absurd, and none of us would stand for it, but how different is it from our current income tax system?

and could someone please explain to me why we stand for a system with rules, loopholes, and regulations so complex that 10 out of 10 tax experts consistently disagree on how the laws apply for a given situation?...and my personal favorite is calling the irs help line with the same question 10 times consistently yields 10 different answers - but the taxpayer is still responsible for doing the correct thing (whatever it is ultimately ruled to be)

but what really burns my grits is arguing for a fair tax system...can we at least start with the correct definition of what would be fair, and go from there?

fair is fair