COMMENTARY | The evolving by the hour IRS scandal, in which the tax agency targeted conservative groups for examination and harassment, as detailed by the Washington Post, cries out for not only an investigation, but legislation.
To be sure an investigation and the punishment of those responsible for politically motivated examinations and audits must happen. But the fact that the IRS did these things at all stems from the fact that someone wanted to target conservative organizations and perhaps people and, thanks to the existence of the IRS, they could. This therefore argues for an overhaul of the tax code that would lead either to the abolishment of the IRS or at least the massive curtailment of its power to delve into the intimate financial lives of Americans and use its powers to make those lives a hell.
...
Ideas for a flat tax or a national sales tax have been around since at least the mid 1990s. In the former, the idea is that one can fill out ones tax form on a post card; income, a few limited deductions, taxes paid and taxes owed and that would be it. In the latter the income tax would be abolished, along with the 16th Amendment that authorizes the same, and the government would tax consumption, with perhaps some necessities such as food, clothing and housing exempt.
The beauty of either plan is that the tax code would be so simplified that the time and cost of compliance would be decreased drastically.
More importantly the power of the IRS to use the tax code to attack the political enemies of whomever the current president is would be abolished, perhaps along with the tax agency itself.
...
http://voices.yahoo.com/irs-scandal-suggests-time-abolish-income-12137046.html?cat=9
