Get income tax code fixed

The United States Income Tax Code is more than 70,000 pages and the pages between the binders do not show how to pay income taxes but how to avoid paying them. This applies to both individuals and corporate taxpayers.

For the individual, everyone receives the personal exemption; there are also either the standard or itemized deductions plus additional tax credits for families, low income and for purchasing certain approved products, among other ways to reduce your tax.

Corporations can deduct from their incomes the standard business expenses associated with conducting business plus the ambiguous “one time charge” that occurs on every quarterly and yearly accounting report.

Various presidents and Congress have encouraged individuals and corporations to invest in foreign countries. NAFTA and other treaties are examples of these foreign investments. The tax code gives these investors, individuals and multinational companies tax credits for transferring American technology and manufacturing to select countries. Profits made in these foreign countries are taxed within these countries. The tax code does not require any excess profits made in these foreign countries to be returned to the United States and its higher tax rate.

The presidential candidates are mentioning reforming the more the tax code to help save the middle class and making sure that every taxpayer — individual and corporation — pay their “fair share.” Newly released data from the IRS shows that 49.5 percent of tax filers do not pay any income tax. Further, one-third of Americans are receiving (discounting Social Security) federal assistance.

For both Obama and Romney, the middle class that needs saving is either not paying any income tax or having the other 50.5 percent support their lifestyle.

Let’s get serious about reforming the tax code.

Jack McCabe

Batavia