Pork Tax

Today is tax day, the last day you can file 2011 tax returns. I'm frustrated because not only do I have to write hefty checks to Uncle Sam and New York State, but during this election year I also have to listen to the bureaucrats from both sides of the aisle play one-upmanship, proposing one tax reform after another to prove that they are dealing with the unjust tax code. The worst is that Mr. Obama continues to pitch the gimmicky "Buffett Rule" to ensure that millionaires pay at least a 30% tax rate. This is notwithstanding the fact that on average, the top 20% of income earners paid 70% of federal taxes, according to data available from the Congressional Budget Office. The good news is that yesterday the Senate voted down the Buffett charade. The real problem is that our tax system is broken, and pork barrel government spending is out of control. Worse yet, we continue to lose lives and spend billons on the defense of a barren mountainous and dusty no-man's-land. To begin to address this mess, I vote for a flat-tax rate, term limits for Congress so we can get rid of career politicians who spend tax dollars like drunken sailors, and introduce a one six-year term for President so we would not have to live through the pain and agony of our current four-year, two-term fiasco that aggregately produces at least three years of campaign time.

Tony LoPinto is the Global Sector Leader of Korn/Ferry International's Real Estate Practice and founder of SelectLeaders. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

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