Americans spend about 6 billion hours a year collecting the data and filling out the forms. We spend $10 billion to H&R Block and other preparers. And on top of that, $2 billion in tax preparation software, which still takes… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
We have the most expensive compliance system in the world. The IRS brags that they spend 35 cents for every $100 they collect. They're… — T.R. Reid Copy Share Image
President Trump repeatedly says that "America is the highest-taxed country in the world." This is an alternative fact. We pay less in taxes, and our government spends less, as a share of our total wealth, than our counterparts in Western Europe and East Asia. But Trump is right when it comes to corporate tax rates; the U.S. corporate income tax… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
The Value-Added Tax, a sales tax that applies at every level of business transactions, is an easy tax for governments to collect, and a hard tax to evade. — T.R. Reid Copy Share
“When I was traveling the world on my quest, I asked the health ministry of each country how many citizens had declared bankruptcy in the past year because of medical bills. Generally, the officials responded to this question with a look of astonishment, as if I had asked how many flying saucers from Mars landed in the ministry’s parking lot… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
When it comes to taxation, Americans are still banging out letters on a typewriter and dropping them in the mail box while everybody else… — T.R. Reid Copy Share Image
If you get rid of all these giveaways and loopholes and deductions and credits, then you can sharply lower the rates. — T.R. Reid Copy Share Image
If you ask any economist, they'll tell you all the mortgage interest deduction does is raise the price of the house. So a couple is out looking at the house, they say, "Oh, we love this house, but we couldn't make the monthly payment." And the realtor says, "Yeah, but you're going to get a tax break." So people pay… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
It turns out a VAT - a value-added tax - is a very easy tax to collect and a very hard tax to evade. It's a really good idea. It was invented about 60 years ago in France, of course. Because they're so good at taxing. They had a business tax that was easy to evade, and the head of… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
Corporations use all sorts of complex stratagems to move their profits overseas, and thus escape the U.S. income tax. — T.R. Reid Copy Share Image
The Value-Added Tax, a sales tax that applies at every level of business transactions, is an easy tax for governments to collect, and a hard tax to evade. So it makes the job of raising revenue easier. The revenues from the VAT can then be used to lower taxes on income and saving and investment. The Value-Added tax doesn't penalize… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
“But Nikki White was a citizen of the world’s richest country, the United States of America.” — T.R. Reid Copy Share Image
Starting in the '80s or so, after the United States sharply cut its rates, other countries decided they better do it too, and here's how you do it: you just wipe out the exemptions, the deductions, the credits, the depreciation allowances. And people complain, "Oh my God, it's terrible," but you give them much lower rates and you give them… — T.R. Reid Copy Share
