read up on the fair tax, fairtax.org
the people pushing for it have spent quite a bit of time working it out, and I find it the most resonable form of taxation. Even if it's true that it can't bring in the same money currently coming in, that would only mean the gov'ners would have to stop spending all our money !!
Also, watch the film, America:Freedom to Fascism (you can find it on googlevideo). It brings up some interesting points, such as the current "income" tax isn't apparently valid (it brings into question the validity of the 16th amendment as well as the SC ruling that the 16th gave the fed no new powers of taxation) and points out that the IRS nor any other government person has ever provided a law which states income tax is required. IRS code seems to only mention it is voluntary.
based on all this, the current system seems to not even be legal. And the Fairtax would be both legal in the old constitutional context, and wouldn't have the myriad loopholes of the current system, nor the oppressive IRS man is gonna getcha stuff.
And consider this, no other form of taxation taxes legally and illegally made money the same. Currently, we get nothing other than sales tax from mafia types and drug dealers etc. Under FairTax, as those same persons go out and buy their MB's and BMW's and Caddi Escalades etc., they pay the same taxes the rest of us pay. When they go to Best Buy to buy a 70" Plasma and a HT setup, they pay a full tax load rather than only sales tax
and on the Immigration front, people forget to look at FT from that perspective. FT includes a "prebate" for all "Americans" or "others legally here". The Prebate is estimated at about $500 per month, and is to cover the expected tax paid by persons at the poverty line (~$20,000 income) so essentially all of us would pay no tax on the first 20g we earn. BUT, illegals would get no such "prebate", so they are underpaid workers, paying the FULL tax load the rest of us pay, and NO PREBATE, so essentially, they would be paying an extra $500 a month in taxes. And unlike now, they'd be PAYING taxes. Since they are "under the table" right now, there are no "income" taxes collected on them, no payroll taxes, etc. So where is benefit of being here illegally? You'd be underpaid and over taxed. That situation alone should dramatically slow if not stop the flow of illegals.
another interesting part of the FT is, no item would ever be taxed twice. Only NEW products would be taxed at the time of their sale so purchase of used items would have NO sales tax. It goes back to the concept that something should only be taxed once, and double/triple etc. taxation is the type of thing that started the revolution and the Boston Tea Party.
Now, keep in mind, the FT is a replacement for individual taxation. As I understand it, and I could be wrong, business taxation would stay as is. Also, something I recall from the A:FtF movie is that "income" tax pays for NOTHING except the INTEREST on the debt. It's payroll and other business taxes that are used to actually pay for stuff. Our taxes are only there to cover the interest. What's worse? Did you know the Federal Reserve is a BANK? Not a Government owned bank, a PRIVATE, run by the BANKERS bank! Essentially, our government is controlled by the bankers, because if they are short of funds needed to pay for something and need more money printed, they have to asked the Federal Reserve for the money. Now think about that. What if the Gov't is pushing some agenda the bankers don't like (oh yeah, and NO ONE knows who is on the board of the Fed, it's secret), since the bankers control the money, they simply say "nope, as long as you are trying to push xyz, we aren't going to give you more money". And there is NO WAY for us the citizenry to know when that happens. And worse, the Federal Reserve act wasn't even voted on by congress openly. Just like the Veterans Disarmament Act that passed over Christmas by a VOICE only vote with no record of the votes, the Fed act in 1916 or so was passed that same way. Why in the world are there rules that allow congress to pass bills and laws when only 5 or 10% of the members are present, and without a recorded vote? Talk about bogus!!!
So, definitely some things to consider during this election season.