Tax system badly in need of overhaul

With tax time just behind us, more and more of us are becoming concerned about preparation of our federal income tax returns. Mass confusion surrounds our tax code, and preparing our returns becomes more time-consuming and expensive each year.

The need to use a qualified tax professional may have been greater this year than ever before. Suggested reform plans range from a minor overhaul of the federal income tax code to completely abolishing it, but Congress either does nothing or makes the problem grows worse. Loopholes abound for the wealthy and powerful, but average citizens struggle for hours to honestly prepare their own forms or pay tax pros to do the job for them. Meanwhile, criminals and illegal aliens pay no income taxes at all, thereby increasing the burden for the rest of us.

We need a fair, transparent and simple tax system that any American can understand, a system by which everyone living in the U.S. would pay their fair share, and allow working people - wage earners - to take home their entire paychecks, with no deductions.

We need a tax system that will eliminate April 15 tax anxiety over whether or not we will be part of the unlucky millions who are assessed a penalty by the IRS, or who receive the dreaded audit notices. There is one plan that can do all that, eliminating the federal income tax, payroll taxes, the IRS and more - the FairTax, the perfect vision of a federal consumption tax.

To learn more about this proposed system of taxation, readers may call 1-800-FAIRTAX or visit the FairTax Web sites at www.fairtax.org or www.ilfairtax.org.

Kurt Thoss

Naperville