Paying the Toll On the Economic Highway

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http://www.opednews.com/articles/Paying-the-Toll-On-the-Eco-by-William-John-Cox-Taxation_Taxes-131108-15.html



Paying the Toll On the Economic Highway
OpEdNews Op Eds 11/8/2013 at 08:02:51
By William John Cox

The political coma of the U.S. government induced by Congress and its failure to represent those who elect it can ultimately be traced to the unfair and complex system of income taxation. Better for the country and more equitable for its taxpayers would be a toll tax on the movement of all money along the nation's economic highway.

Not a national sales tax, not a value-added tax, not a flat income tax, and not a speculation tax, but rather a slight levy should be imposed on every single financial transaction. Not just every time you fill up your gas tank or buy groceries, but we should hear a tiny "ka-ching" every time stocks, bonds and futures are bought and sold, every time currencies and derivatives are traded, and whenever an oil company buys a new drilling rig or a bank rolls the dice in the financial casino.

The federal government could easily operate on revenues produced by a "toll tax" of less than one percent on the movement of all money. Significantly, the payment of taxes would shift to those who most profit from government -' from individuals to corporations and from the laboring poor to the wealthy elite, who would pay taxes on their money games and spending for luxuries, instead of their "income."

A toll tax would result in a slight increase in the overall cost of goods and services; however, the toll would apply to all monetary transactions, including financial manipulations by the wealthy, who engage in every imaginable scheme to avoid having any "taxable income."