Is anything permanent?

I picked up the paper and read the same old thing - we need to make the tax cuts permanent. Well, I have news for people, nothing is permanent - except death - certainly not taxes or tax cuts. What the government takes away today, they can put back in tomorrow. Look at the fact that our Constitution has a process for amending it, so it is not even permanent!

Now, what they mean is that when they institute these tax cuts, they usually just suspend the taxes for a few years. This keeps both parties happy. One says "See, we got rid of that tax", and the other says "See, it doesn't go away forever".

One of the taxes they refer to is the inheritance tax. This is a more complicated subject than it looks and may or may not have outlived it's usefulness. I heard someone on the radio say that the main reason someone starts a business is to pass it on to their children and the inheritance tax robs them of this. Well, I did a quick survey and most businesses start for many reasons. First is to make money and survive. Usually it is something that someone likes to do and are passionate about. It is a very personal choice and many times is made before family and children even exist. Of course, they want to provide for their children and leave them something, but many business today are started with the idea of starting them and then selling them off. Often by this time their children have lives of their own and are not interested in the business. Family farms should be protected, and taxes should never cripple a business to the point of losing jobs.

Do I like taxes on money already taxed? No, but how do you keep track of that? If properly constructed, the inheritance tax should not be a burden on families or businesses.

However, this gets back to my main belief - we need to be focusing on spending, not tax collecting. The recent scandals in Washington regarding lobbyists and the outrageous money that is being thrown around and wasted - maybe if we put one tenth the effort into watching this, the taxes and tax rates would solve themselves.