KYG Updates Blog

Economy Resolution

Lincoln County

By Joann M.

Whereas During the Civil War Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1861, it included a tax on personal incomes to help pay war expenses;
Whereas In 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax. The 16th amendment, ratified in 1913, removed this by allowing the Federal government to tax the income of individuals without regard to the population of each State;
Whereas by 1913, 36 States had ratified the 16th Amendment to the Constitution. In October, Congress passed a new income tax law with rates beginning at 1 percent and rising to 7 percent for taxpayers with income in excess of $500,000. Less than 1 percent of the population paid income tax at the time;
Whereas in the United States, while the Federal income tax is progressive, five states, including Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, have tax rates ranging from 3% to 5.3%. Pennsylvania even has a pure flat tax with no zero-bracket amount;
Whereas An economic consulting firm did an analysis of flat tax. Its findings: Between ‑‑‑2005 and 2015, the Forbes Flat Tax Plan would generate $56 billion more in new government revenue than the current income tax. More important, an estimated $6 trillion in assets would be created. This study also predicts that that flat tax would lead to nearly 3.5 million new jobs by 2011;
Whereas The Economist claims that this system would reduce the number of entities required to file returns from about 130 million individuals, households, and businesses, as at present, to a mere 8 million businesses and self-employed;
Whereas a flat tax could increase tax revenues by simplifying the tax code and removing the many loopholes which businesses and the rich currently exploit to pay less tax;
Whereas Hong Kong has successfully had a variation of the flat tax for 60 years. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia enacted flat taxes in the 1990s that have been hugely successful. Russia put in a flat tax four years ago, and revenues have more than doubled in real terms. Ukraine, Slovakia, Romania, Georgia and Serbia have also successfully enacted flat taxes;
Whereas Currently, the USA Revenue Code is over 9 million words long and contains many loopholes which, advocates of flat taxes claim render the collection of taxes and the enforcement of tax law complicated and inefficient. It is further argued that current tax law retards economic growth by distorting economic incentives, and by allowing, even encouraging, tax avoidance;
Whereas acording to Steve Forbes, Americans waste more than $200 billion and over six billion hours each year filling out tax forms;
Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved that the Lincoln County KYG Party support the implementation of a flat federal income tax plan.