Everything Wrong With America’s Tax Code, in One Chart

Every year, the group Americans for Tax Reform reminds us just what a disaster America’s tax system is. Do you see what’s wrong?

And where do these billions of dollars end up? Right back with the same politicians and lobbyists responsible for the tax code. A new report proves that Washington, D.C. makes nothing but more government, and business is booming.

Through taxes, regulations, and rent-seeking lobbying, Washington D.C. spends your money on itself, while the rest of America suffers after eight years of Obama.

This is morally reprehensible:

Whereas Detroit once made cars, Hollywood makes movies, and New York finances the economy, Washington mostly makes government.

How does big government enrich D.C. and its denizens? What’s the mechanism? There are a few ways.

Most straightforwardly but not most importantly, federal salaries are high and the benefits even higher. The average federal employee makes $84,153, about 50 percent more than the average private-sector worker. Sweet benefits such as health insurance for life make the gap even wider. Government unions argue that federal workers are underpaid. Their arguments are self-serving hogwash based on bad data and excluding benefits.

A couple of mid-level managers living in Annandale, Va., and working at the Department of Housing and Urban Development can earn $200,000 and enjoy free parking.

But the real money comes when those bureaucrats cash out of government and pass through the revolving door into the private sector as consultants or lobbyists (though often still drawing a federal pension), monetizing their public sector experience to help clients win subsidies and game regulations.

Lobbying the federal government is a $3 billion-a-year business if you only count money reported on federal lobbying disclosure forms. The real tab is much higher and includes legions of consultants and quasi-lobbyists.

The government-dependent class is massive. Washington companies haul in more than $100 billion a year in federal contracts. The 32 largest contractors in the area accounted for 20 percent of all federal contracts in 2012.

This is what President Trump means when he’s talking about the immediate need to “drain the swamp.” Tax rates are theft and regulations simply make lawyers, lobbyists, and compliance officers wealthy.

What do you think about America’s shameful tax code? Please leave us a comment (below) and tell us.

Thomas is a movement conservative and American patriot. He has a vigorous blue-collar, Jacksonian attitude with a skeptical eye... More about Thomas

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