Solving tax problems...

OK, with all of the news, and because I'm married to a CPA and slept at a Holiday Inn Express a while back, I feel qualified to solve the money problems of the USA. Here are a few of my suggestions...

1. Stop tax refunds that are over and above what a person pays in.

Seriously... I keep hearing about how much the supposedly rich folks do not pay. What I want to know is how much the IRS gives back every year to folks that is over and above what they pay in. If you work a menial job for next to nothing, I'm not going to give you grief about getting back what you've paid in if you make less than a certain amount. What I do have a problem with is someone that pays in a couple of hundred bucks over the course of the year, then getting back all of that money plus several thousand more in the form of earned income credits, child tax credits, etc. All this on top of any public assistance they already receive. No more "free money"

2. reform welfare.

I'm not going to get into the need for welfare or any public assistance, all I want is for something reasonable to be done about it. Let's say that the US average is 2.4 kids per family. Round that number up to 3 just for the sake of this argument. Set a cap on public assistance to 3 kids per family. You have 4 kids when you go on public assistance, sorry. We'll give you benefits for up to 3 kids. Yeah, life sucks, but that's the breaks.

Also, no "raises" for having more kids while you are on welfare. You have 1 kid when you go on welfare, that's the most you will ever get "paid" for. If you can't support yourself, you have no damn business having more kids. They give rubbers away free everywhere. Use them. My boss doesn't give away raises when Shelly and I have more kids, why should someone that is attached to the gov't tit get one?

Obviously if someone is on the rolls with 4 kids, you can't cut them off, but you sure as heck can tell them not to expect to get paid extra for #5

3. REQUIRED education or service after high school.

ok, this one might be controversial, but tough times are just that... Tough. Suck it up and deal with it. I think most of us agree that a high school education does little to prepare a person for earning a living. I suggest that if a person is not going to go to college, they should be required to attend some sort of trade school, vocational school, or the military. Learn a trade, craft, or serve. Perhaps a sub branch of the military could be formed to deal strictly with non-combat domestic things. Park service, borders, trash on the highways, you name it.

Throw all of the welfare recipients into this branch. If you are going to pay them anyway, lets get some use out of them, and maybe they learn some skills to one day be able to provide for themselves.

Look, the point of this is that high school prepares us for $8 per hour jobs that start with "may I take your order". Perhaps if everyone learned a trade. Learn to weld. Learn plumbing. Learn to be an electrician. Learn to fix cars. My point is that if you know how to do something, you have a better chance at being able to provide for yourself and a family. Everyone can't go to college. But everyone can learn to do something useful.


ok, this is where I put in some sort of disclaimer...

The above list is NOT an exhaustive list of what can and should be done. It is just something that no one has ever mentioned that I can recall. Sure, those things will be unpopular. Sure they take a bite out of the poor, but the point is that some folks are poor and are doing little to change that on their own.

Yes, some burden needs to be shared across the higher income levels and tax brackets. Trust me, the folks in power don't need suggestions from me on how to do that. Several options are floating around, and I'm sure my tax bill is about to rise. If it does, I'm sure we'll make due, I just want the burden to be shared by EVERYONE, including those at the bottom that get all of the benefits with none of the costs...

ok, fire away. Let's hear your thoughts...