Next?

Tom Daschle has withdrawn his nomination from HHS. This is good news, as we need somebody who is not in the hip pocket of the insurance companies.

There is also another nominee for another post that has withdrawn over taxes. This person is a woman, and Norah O'Donnal on MSNBC was wondering if the Obama administration was being sexist in having a woman withdraw and not Daschle or Geitner.

This is because Norah O'Donnell is a very stupid person. Even after Daschle has withdrawn, O'Donnell is still wonders if Obama forced her to withdraw because she is a woman.

O'Donnell is a very, very stupid person who should not be on my teevee.

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One thing to note.. is that most wealthy people cheat on taxes. I'd say that every last one of them do that... just from my observations.

Know how? A lot of income is not on a W2 or 1099. It's not reported to the Fed, so it's not listed on a tax return. Taxes for the wealthy is largely voluntary.

It's also possible to have deductions for a myriad of things.. a lot of which are completely made up. Unless the IRS does an audit, it simply disappears.

The rest.. the middle class.. their entire incomes are on a W2. A vast majority of Americans have their taxes withheld and you cannot cheat it because it's all reported to the Fed. Those lucky enough to have investments and such get 1099's, and so you can't cheat that either.

When you consider that the wealthy have a higher tax burden, keep in mind that it would be a hell of a lot higher for them if they weren't cheating on their taxes.

How about we do away with the IRS and collect tax revenue in a completely neutral way, while still maintaining progressivity? Yes, a national sales tax. Cheaper items will have a low tax rate, so that lower income Americans are not taxed into extreme poverty. More expensive items will have a higher tax rate.. so if you want to buy a BMW, the sale tax on it will be a lot higher than a Ford. This would also encourage saving and such.

I'm sure there's a laundry list of problems with doing away with an income tax, and implementing a national sales tax, but it would eliminate tax cheating, and it would massively reduce the size of the IRS. The government could also easily adjust the tax rates in order to balance the budget. Need more money, bump up the rate and bam.. instantly it goes into effect and the revenue stream changes. If there's a surplus, or in economic conditions like we have today, just cut the rate, and bam... instant stimulus.

The Fed could do an analysis of the share of total tax burdens by income, and pattern the effective tax rates on sales price to maintain that progressivity.

But like I said.. I'm not an economist, so I have no real clue if that's workable. It just sounds nice to me.