A Good Tax

The U.S. tax system has become a worst possible solution to a problem: the government needs funding, but using a complicated personal income tax system involves 6.6 billion hours a year and as much as 20% of revenue for compliance.  With record deficits and ballooning entitlement costs as the Baby Boom retires, it will be necessary to increase government revenue, yet the current system is unwieldy and Congress has not passed a tax increase since Clinton's 1993 budget.  In order to make increased government revenues palatable to conservatives significant changes to the tax system will be necessary; scrapping the current system entirely will push the reset button on tax complexity and allow a more efficient system to replace the current labyrinth of exceptions, deductions and cascading penalties.  In an ideal world, the government would tax activity it wanted to discourage- that's why a pack of cigarettes in "Daddy Knows Best" Bloomberg's New York costs ten bucks- and government shouldn't want to discourage income.  A better designed tax will encourage better behavior from taxpayers, even while it possesses enough ideas that are attractive both sides of the of the ideological spectrum to become law.  I believe that the foundation of such a tax comes from and idea outlined by Robert Frank, for replacing income taxes with an annual consumption tax.

How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America

In this sobering cover feature from The Atlantic Monthly, Don Peck examines the social costs of unemployment.  Too often the long term human pain and suffering of job loss is obscured by statistics, but Peck delves into how America's youth, families and communities will suffer from prolonged economic stress, joblessness and diminished future expectations.  It's wearying, but essential reading.