Note: Updated recently to reflect tax rate changes. Check out the original article

Unfortunately, each of us only 24 hours in a day. You try to sleep for 8 of those. You probably work for another 8. Maybe you spend another couple of hours preparing food and eating it. Don't forget time for the kids, the spouse, the bills, and - of course! - reading this blog. Oh, and you are expected to maintain a continual financial record of all of your dealings throughout the year so that you can justify your particular tax situation to the government.

Sounds like fun.

In …

In the past, conservatives in the US have maligned double taxation, particularly on dividend income. The theory goes that a particular dollar is taxed as it passes through the corporate structure, then taxed again as it reaches the shareholder.

In this article, I would like to point out the multiple levels of tax applied to the common W-2 paycheck, which will be illustrative for later discussions. For the purposes of this article, we will focus on federal taxes with no deductions, credits, or other complicating factors. This discussion will also focus on US federal rather than state taxes. The subject …

Since the beginning of time, there has always been a debate regarding the best way to tax a people. In the United States, conservatives tend to favor a "flat" tax in which rich and poor are taxed at similar percentages while liberals often favor a "progressive" tax in which more wealthy individuals pay a higher percentage than less wealth citizens.

We wish to examine the underlying motivations, morality, and practical truths and make sense out of the different points of view while - hopefully - coming to some conclusion as to what sort of plan makes the most sense.

Flat Taxes

A …

In the United States, corporations are treated much like citizens. They spend on campaigns, represent themselves and their interests to politicians (citizens' representatives), and pay taxes. The question is, should a 'corporate citizen' be considered a citizen of equal legal stature to any other citizen, with all of the protections and rights of any other citizen?

Campaigns

To inform the discussion, it is interesting to take a look at the top 3 contributors to Clinton's 2016 campaign.

Clinton Campaign

Elected representatives are simply not up to the task of making unpopular decisions, even when those decisions are patently necessary. As a result, they tend to never make decisions like raising taxes, even while the debt continues to increase. This article describes the use of an engineering concept called a closed loop in order to solve an ever-growing tax problem.

What is a Closed Loop?

A closed loop is a system that used output information on order to adjust the inputs. This is an arcane way of saying that the system self adjusts to maintain a particular outcome.

Lets look …

The founders, in their wisdom, codified systemic means for the defense of liberty. Notably, the founders felt burned by several acts of the crown which they saw as impinging on their liberty and enacted specific constitutional protections against such infringements of government. As it happens, one of these protections has been twisted in a way that is no longer serves the requirements of the people which it was intended to protect, but instead, ensures that only those with money and influence are given access to government officials.

In this article, we would like to make a case that systemic corruption …