About those tea parties

Melissa Clouthier has a nice post about the tax freedom tea parties planned all over America for this coming Wednesday.  After addressing (and pretty much dismissing) some concern from those on the Right about the motivations behind the tea parties, she has this lovely paragraph about the worry from the Left:

I’m smelling more than a little jealousy, fear and loathing from my leftist brethren. Protests over the last eight years were nonsensical, anemic affairs with screaming meemees in pink T-shirts. Or they’re naked hot chicks for PETA. Or they’re naked bicyclers protesting war and Israel and the new world order. In short, the Leftists come across as unstable whack-jobs with no job and time to burn who had no purpose in life but their thinly veiled America-hate. Plus, they just don’t have many numbers.

One of the things I know people on the Right are worried about is the Left trying to make those on the Right appear like unstable whack-jobs, by appearing with signs demanding the death of gays or abortion providers or Muslims or whatever other ugly thought they can come up with as a smear on conservatives.

One of my friends has turned into a politico dynamo working on our San Francisco protest.  She’s sent out a couple of emails address both organizer concerns about infiltrators and providing information that should concern every American about taxes.  First, regarding the infiltrators:

If you see someone and they aren’t one of us, i.e., they’re wearing an ACORN t-shirt, they have a sign that says “Homophobe or Nazi” etc., they’re screaming certain things at us, they’re not wearing a tea bag pin, do the following:

1—as above, grab someone w/ a camera and keep your eve on them;

2—grab one of our “INFILTRAITOR” signs and go stand next to them, have someone take a picture and stick w/ that person for a while…it might agitate them enough to leave or relocate.

3—if you feel comfortable approaching them, you can tell them this and see if it has any impact:

“We have a permit that restricts this protest to matters of taxes and the budget and stimulus/bailouts. An anti-war or pro-abortion sign isn’t by law permitted at this protest. You will have to go somewhere else w/ this sign OR take one of ours or I will have to ask the police to escort you away.”

And regarding the actual reason for the protests, how about these tax statistics from Joseph Henchman, Director of State Projects, Tax Foundation, Washington, D.C.:

Tax Facts

¨ In 2005, the estimated time and money cost of complying with the federal Internal Revenue Code was 6 billion man-hours worth $265 billion.

¨ The code that year stood at 7 million words in 736 code sections, up from 718,000 words in 103 code sections in 1955. By contrast, the King James Bible has 788,280 words in 66 books, the Harry Potter series has just over 1 million words in 7 books, and the English translation of War and Peace has 560,000 words.

¨ In 2009, Americans worked 103 days of the year to pay for federal, state, and local taxes. This is more than the days worked for housing, food, and clothing (13 days) combined. Americans worked 38 days to pay income taxes, 27 days to pay Social Insurance taxes, 15 days to pay sales and excise taxes, 12 days to pay property taxes, 6 days to pay corporate income taxes, and 4 days to pay other taxes.

¨ In 2006, about one-third of all individual income tax returns (45.6 million) reclaimed every dollar of income tax withheld during the year.

¨ The form 1040 and instructions in 1913 was only 4 pages. In 2009, they are 94 pages.

¨ In tax year 2008, 154.3 million individual income tax returns were filed, resulting in government collections after refunds of $1.059 trillion.

¨ 61 percent of filers used a paid preparer.

¨ In tax year 2006, the “top 10 percent” began at $108,904 in adjusted gross income; the “top 1 percent” at $388,806 in adjusted gross income. 355,204 returns had more than $1 million in adjusted gross income.

¨ 62.8% of individual returns claim the standard deduction; 35.3% itemize.

¨ In 2005, 21.9 million returns claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which paid out $39.7 billion. 12.8 million returns checked the box to provide funds to the Presidential Election Campaign Fund. 48 taxpayers gave a total of $21,179 to reduce the national debt.

¨ 7 states have no state income tax: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. Two other states, New Hampshire and Tennessee, tax capital income but not wage income.

¨ 5 states have no state sales tax: Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and Oregon.

¨ The first income tax was levied in 1404 in England. While the U.S. adopted a temporary income tax in 1862, it was not permanently enacted until 1913 after ratification of the Sixteenth Amendment.

¨ The 1913 income tax rates ranged from 1 percent to 7 percent on income over $500,000. The average annual income earned that year was $800.

Principles of Sound Tax Policy

¨ Simplicity. Administrative costs are a loss to society, and complicated taxation undermines voluntary compliance by creating incentives to shelter and disguise income.

¨ Transparency. Tax legislation should be based on sound legislative procedures and careful analysis. A good tax system requires informed taxpayers who understand how tax assessment, collection, and compliance works. There should be open hearings and revenue estimates should be fully explained and replicable.

¨ Neutrality. The fewer economic decisions that are made for tax reasons, the better. The primary purpose of taxes is to raise needed revenue, not to micromanage the economy. The tax system should not favor certain industries, activities, or products.

¨ Stability. When tax laws are in constant flux, long-range financial planning is difficult. Lawmakers should avoid enacting temporary tax laws, including tax holidays and amnesties.

¨ No Retroactivity. As a corollary to the principle of stability, taxpayers should rely with confidence on the law as it exists when contracts are signed and transactions made.

¨ Broad Bases and Low Rate. As a corollary to the principle of neutrality, lawmakers should avoid enacting targeted deductions, credits and exclusions. If such tax preferences are few, substantial revenue can be raised with low tax rates. Broad-based taxes can also produce relatively stable tax revenues from year to year.