Sunday, April 19, 2015

Who Will Host the Tax Aware Accounts?

I believe that the best way to address the growing gap between the rich and poor isn't to attack the rich, but to find ways to make the poor richer.

For the last several decades I've been driven by the question: How can we, as a free society, create free market structures which give the lower and middle class a leg up?

So, I've been looking for ways to improve the financial condition of lower and middle class workers.

I believe that we can do this with tax reform. I believe that if we changed the way that our society collects taxes that we can create a structure that improves the financial well being of the average American.

I gave my approach to reform the strange name: "The Object Tax." I am running a kickstarter project to write a book about the reform.

The Object Tax, named after Object Oriented Programming, uses an Open Source Project to create a computer program called "A Tax Aware Account." These accounts create an alternative mechanism for collecting taxes.

In the current system, the government withholds taxes from payrolls. Workers file an annnual return to get some money back.

The Object Tax creates a the Tax Aware Account as an alternative path for collecting taxes. (NOTE, it is alternative that can coexist with the current system).

People who choose to follow this path will receive their entire paycheck into the Tax Aware Account and pay taxes when they withdraw their money for spending.

The reform creates the Tax Aware Account with an open source project.

The exciting part of the reform occurs when one asks the basic question: "Who will host the accounts?"

The program was developed by an Open Source Project which dramatically lowers the cost of entry. This means that the program can be run by financial advisers, accountants and other small businesses.

Now, there is a great deal of money involved in tax collection. Businesses will compete to gain market share by extending the Tax Aware Accounts with additional budgeting software and financial advisers.

The Object Tax doesn't just create an alternative means for collecting taxes. The reform creates a market which directly provides workers with budgeting software and financial advisers.

Now, the reason that I want to publish a book about the reform is that one needs to see the reform as a whole to understand just why the reform would result in bringing valuable financial services to the lower wage workers that lower wage workers currently miss.

I can't simply blog about the reform because each blog post must be self contained. For example, I had to waste the first third of this blog post rehashing the development of the program to introduce the idea that the accounts will be hosted by private financial service providers.

In the book, the next chapter will talk about how the financial service providers provide a buffer between the IRS and the public. A blog post that introduces this point has to rehash through the creation of the accounts and that they will be hosted by financial services companies and that these companies will offer services to help protect people from the IRS.

I believe that if I am able to present the arguments for The Object Tax in book form that readers would get a better picture of the reform and understand why it is a mechanism that would help improve the financial condition of the average American.

A week into the Kickstarter Campaign, I've received some form letters offering to sell me services but no feedback on the idea itself.

No comments:

Post a Comment