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Health & Fitness

AFP Says Tax Day Shows the Need for Comprehensive Tax Reform Nationally to Create Economic Growth

Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire (AFP-NH) used Tax Day to call for comprehensive tax reform nationally.

MANCHESTER – Americans for Prosperity – New Hampshire (AFP-NH) used Tax Day to call for comprehensive tax reform nationally.  In a white paper released today, Americans for Prosperity calls for a “simple, flat and neutral tax code with the fewest distortive, secondary effects on the economy.”

“The current 74,000 page Tax Code might create lots of work for accountants, tax lawyers and special interest lobbyists looking for tax breaks, but the compliance costs are adding a major drag to our economy nationally and costing us jobs,” said Greg Moore, AFP-NH State Director.  “On Tax Day, it’s time to call on Washington to get serious about comprehensive tax reform that puts growing our economy first.  That means fewer tax loopholes and much lower tax rates.  The over 6 billion hours that the IRS says Americans spend complying with filing their federal taxes is an enormous waste of resources that could be used to create good, new jobs, and the hundreds of billions in compliance costs comes directly out of the bottom line of our employers.”

A 2011 study by former Reagan economist Arthur Laffer pegs the total cost of tax compliance at $431.1 billion, without counting the loss of activity not taken by individuals and businesses that fear the tax consequences.  There are efforts underway in Congress now to review and modernize the tax system, as laid out in a recent op-ed by Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus and House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp.

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“It’s well past time for a complete overhaul of our current, antiquated tax system,” added Moore.  “Our tax code is broken and it’s breaking our economy.  We need to set aside this burdensome, failed system that plays favorites, stifles growth and provides the wrong incentives for a new structure that can help to lead us out of our economic doldrums and get America working again.”

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