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Other Issues
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Tax simplification
A proposal by Jon Hall, November 10, 2007
It was once thought that only a handful of folks really understood the Theory of Relativity. No one, however, entirely understands the U.S. Tax Code; it is complexity run riot, complexity on wheels. Even IRS agents give conflicting answers to the same tax questions. But before Congress junks the U.S. Tax Code and the IRS for some untested replacement like the FairTax, Congress should first try real reform: radical simplification of the Code. Congress made a stab at simplification back in 1986, but it didn't stick. Complexity soon crept back into the Code, and continues to do so. There are two main reasons for the complexity of the Individual Income Tax (other than the corruption of Congress). The first concerns figuring your total income. (This we can accept.) The second concerns figuring your taxable income and applying your tax credits; i.e., reducing your tax liability, so you won't have to pay as much. This second reason is where simplification must be focused. But fear not, read on.
Jon Hall is a mainframe programmer/analyst from Kansas City. To visit his blog click here.
Health Insurance: A proposal by Jon Hall, March 26, 2007 [O]ver recent decades, the way we think about insurance has changed dramatically; we now think insurance should be for just about everything, even inevitabilities. We now have a separate category of insurance for what all insurance used to be for—catastrophic insurance. Inasmuch as the insurance industry has tried to accommodate the new thinking, we see more and more things covered by insurance. So, more and more folks are filing claims for an ever-widening array of things, which drives up the price of premiums. Nowhere is this trend seen more than in health insurance.... If America wants to preserve the private health insurance business, ALL private health insurance policies should be “catastrophic insurance.” Period. Just as in the days of old. This would mean we’d all be paying more out-of-pocket. And if America is ever going to get back to being a nation of adults, that’s your prescription. Read more>>
Voter fraud
Jon Hall, a visitor to our Web site, maintains:
He has proposed a plan to improve the voter registration process by using:
To read the Jon Hall plan, click here>>. To visit his blog click here.
Welfare Reform: the huge success that is largely unreported Since its enactment in 1996, welfare dependence has declined by more than 50% nationwide, reducing the current level of welfare recipients to the lowest since 1965. Meanwhile, about 2 million children have been lifted out of poverty! A summary of the successes, and the unfinished work to do, was released on 8/20/04 by the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources. (Click here>>)
It’s Time to Create a National Identity Safeguard System The recently-enacted Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act calls for free annual credit reports, controls over credit card numbers, and creation of a “fraud alert” system to be used when identity theft is suspected. Unfortunately, these positive steps will barely put a dent in the burgeoning identity theft epidemic. Read more>>
Campaign finance reform: One of the biggest jokes in years! Remember all of the hoopla about campaign finance reform, and how it would reduce money in politics? Well, the groups who pushed hardest for reform are now killing that reform with new "shadow" entities called 527 organizations. A good overview of the problem is presented by Philip Gailey of the St. Petersburg Times (Click here>>). Note: since his article appeared, the FEC has rejected proposals that would have tightened control over the 527 organizations (posted 7/18/04).
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