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Wednesday 4/4/2001
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Wednesday 4/4/2001
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 Complex tax forms confuse Americans
Every year on April 15 the federal government blesses us with the deadline for tax forms. I suppose that it wouldn’t cause me such pain if they had the decency to make a simple form, maybe a 3-inch by 5-inch card, which I could fill out during lunch. But no. I don’t have a problem with helping people out, or with paying my fair share for this great nation, I just think that it could be made a little more convenient for the people who have to pay. Intrusive and inconvenient bureaucracy should not oppress us for our service to society. Other systems for the collection of taxes could be used with more efficiency and less intrusion into people’s lives. One proposal is to replace income tax legislation, Article 16 of the U.S. constitution, with the implementation of a consumption tax, which would allow Congress to collect taxes on sales and ownership transfers of any real or personal property. This has merit in the replacement of income tax, because it allows for higher taxation of high-income classes than it does for low-income classes, and it can also be included into necessary transactions instead of a separate hassle such as the current state. It also allows you to know how much you’re paying when you pay it. Another suggestion is to create a flat-rate tax, which would dramatically simplify tax paying. A simple form could be supplied in which you could list your income and take a simple percentage of it for taxation. My real beef with the issue is that before the 16th Amendment to the Constitution was made, the federal government had to collect its money through the states, instead of directly from the people. Today, with direct taxation the states are at the mercy of federal regulations and laws. The recent pressure to lower the legal blood alcohol limit in Indiana, as well as current drinking age legislation, is due in large part to the current tax collecting practices which allow the feds to withhold funding if states do not comply with their regulations. Typically, amendments can be made to a state constitution if one house of the legislature proposes it, and the other house accepts it. Publication of the proposed amendment must be made well before the election and a majority of the vote during the election in favor of a change is needed as well. State and federal courts will hold an amendment, like the income tax amendment, invalid if it has not been lawfully adopted. The federal power to amend the constitution is found in Article V that basically states three-fourths of the state legislatures are necessary to ratify an amendment. This article was based loosely on a similar method written into the Articles of Confederation in 1781. Our current U.S. constitution was adopted by state conventions instead of state legislatures, as was specified, so was actually enacted unconstitutionally. Last week, 2,609 out of 3,522 students voted to reform Purdue Student Government through a referendum during the elections that were held last week. The constitutionality of this referendum is still in question by some members of the PSG. But constitutionality shouldn’t stop anyone; after all we pay federal income tax today because of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which replaced previous legislation which stated that no direct tax of the people could be made by federal agencies. In the case of PSG, I believe that changes need to be made. Less than 10 percent of the student body voted in this year’s PSG election, which shows a relative ambiguity about student government within the student population. Many students, including myself, don’t know whom their PSG senators are. If senators are elected through school rather than location, which is what the referendum supports, senators will have to be more accountable to the students, and have more validity within an education-based government. It would be sad to see this referendum reversed due to procedural error. Remember taxes are due, constitutional or not, on April 15. Enjoy. Ian Clift is a sophomore in School of Science. |
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