Each year, taxpayers and small businesses spend nearly 2.5 billion hours preparing their tax forms. Even the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service, Douglas Shulman, has said, "I find the tax code complex, so I use a preparer."
The complexity of the current tax system heavily burdens small businesses, impacting their effectiveness and productivity. Many small businesses cannot afford to hire accounting firms so they are forced to navigate the code alone.
We need to simplify the tax code in order to encourage the growth of small businesses. A common sense tax reform would allow companies to dedicate their time and resources to expanding their business and creating new employment opportunities rather than wasting valuable time and energy decoding the tax code.
That's why I have cosponsored the Freedom Flat Tax Act, which creates an optional flat tax. This bill would allow an individual or businessperson to opt out of the current tax system for a flat tax of 19% for the first two years and 17% thereafter. Additionally, the optional flat tax proposal would:
Eliminate the marriage penalty;
Repeal the death tax;
Abolish the Alternative Minimum Tax;
Eliminate capital gains taxes; and
Allow for immediate expensing of business capital equipment.
Do you think simplifying the current tax code system should be a priority in helping small businesses and boosting the economy?