Rearranging the tax system

I am always amused when the other party is in power, and then they try to take a different but better approach in doing your taxes. However, between Democrats and Republicans, Democrats as a whole would make you pay a larger percentage in taxes. Representative Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat, wants to do something different, but James Pethokoukis, a senior writer from U.S. News & World Report and author on this column, is not exactly sure. But Pethokoukis can take a guess.

One thing might be more taxpayers could pay the top 35%(?) on their earnings. If (hypothetically) the top 1% pays the top 35% before, then now (hypothetically) the top 1.5% would be required to pay the top rate. I really don't know who pays, or how much.

Or the taxpayers might lose the deductions that they once had before, like lowering the mortgage interest deduction limit.

Bush' plan is to repeal the alternative minimum tax, but shifting around the tax structure so that the taxpayer would make his taxes "revenue neutral".

But Congress will have a different plan.

It is no wonder why the tax code is too burdensome for the average taxpayer to comprehend!

By the way, I am not a taxpayer; I am a nontaxpayer. They are polar opposites as far as the IRS is concerned. On a related note, tax-honesty advocate Edward Brown is offering his home, worth over $1,000,000, for the first person who can show the law requiring Brown (or most Americans) to file a tax return and pay taxes. This offer has been standing for more than two weeks! But as of today, there are no takers. Could it be there is no law???