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That's a very strong Libertarian case. Government spending must be cut very significantly.

Freebytes 17y ago
I voted for Bob Barr simply because I believe the Fair Tax needs recognition. We should do away with the complexities even at the cost of jobs. The IRS employees could be put to use in other parts of the government, and H&R Block could focus more on accounting than simply paying people to use their software that anyone at home could use by themselves.
- sethg 17y ago
  The entire Justice Department (not just the IRS) has a budget authority of about $25 billion, out of a budget with roughly $2.5 trillion in receipts and $3 trillion in outlays. So if the government not only eliminated the IRS but eliminated the entire Department of Justice, Federal spending would go down by less than one percent. Roll on the revolution, dude!
  - Freebytes 17y ago
    I did not say that we should do away with the archaic and convoluted systems the tax system currently implements for the benefit of saving federal tax dollars by the elimination of the IRS or Justice Department. Any suggestion to do away with the Justice Department is not clear thinking anyway. I said that we should eliminate unnecessary complications within the tax system. The Fair Tax would result in an increase in tax collection methods without the necessity of complications, it would tax illegal immigrants, and it would result in less of a burden for people that want to be fair to the system but have little knowledge of the tax laws.
sethg 17y ago
It seems to me that the problem the OP describes is not confined to governments. If some layer or department of a large company's bureaucracy is consuming about 1.5% of its revenues (just as the Australian tax office consumes about 1.5% of Australia's GDP), then the upper management will never have much interest in driving that proportion down to 0.5%. So as the company grows, that layer or department will grow as well in spite of automation, just as the tax office has grown.
- camccann 17y ago
  If anything, the article could be taken to show that any large organization is inherently destructive to efficiency and should be cut down for the good of society.

I voted for Bob Barr simply because I believe the Fair Tax needs recognition. We should do away with the complexities even at the cost of jobs. The IRS employees could be put to use in other parts of the government, and H&R Block could focus more on accounting than simply paying people to use their software that anyone at home could use by themselves.

sethg 17y ago
The entire Justice Department (not just the IRS) has a budget authority of about $25 billion, out of a budget with roughly $2.5 trillion in receipts and $3 trillion in outlays. So if the government not only eliminated the IRS but eliminated the entire Department of Justice, Federal spending would go down by less than one percent. Roll on the revolution, dude!
- Freebytes 17y ago
  I did not say that we should do away with the archaic and convoluted systems the tax system currently implements for the benefit of saving federal tax dollars by the elimination of the IRS or Justice Department. Any suggestion to do away with the Justice Department is not clear thinking anyway. I said that we should eliminate unnecessary complications within the tax system. The Fair Tax would result in an increase in tax collection methods without the necessity of complications, it would tax illegal immigrants, and it would result in less of a burden for people that want to be fair to the system but have little knowledge of the tax laws.

sethg 17y ago

It seems to me that the problem the OP describes is not confined to governments. If some layer or department of a large company's bureaucracy is consuming about 1.5% of its revenues (just as the Australian tax office consumes about 1.5% of Australia's GDP), then the upper management will never have much interest in driving that proportion down to 0.5%. So as the company grows, that layer or department will grow as well in spite of automation, just as the tax office has grown.

camccann 17y ago
If anything, the article could be taken to show that any large organization is inherently destructive to efficiency and should be cut down for the good of society.