THE ONLY WAY TO FIX IT PERMANENTLY IS VIA THE CONSTITUTION:

'Temporary' Tax Code Puts Nation in a Lasting Bind (JOHN D. MCKINNON, GARY FIELDS And LAURA SAUNDERS, 12/13/10, WSJ)

[T]he U.S. will have no permanent regime governing levies on salaries, capital gains and dividends, the Social Security tax, as well as a slew of targeted breaks for families, students and other groups. This on top of dozens of corporate-tax provisions that already were subject to annual renewal.

The level of uncertainty, unusual for developed nations, complicates planning and discourages hiring and investment, many economists and corporate executives say.

"I haven't seen anything like it, and it's hard historically to find anything like" the current and pending negotiations, says Mortimer Caplin, an Internal Revenue Service commissioner in the Kennedy administration who at 94 is just three years younger than the income tax itself. "This Congress has left an awful lot up in the air."

Just get rid of all taxes except a national consumption tax that the feds are required to utilize to raise a set percentage of GDP as revenue.

MORE:
Tax bills in 2009 at lowest level since 1950 (Dennis Cauchon, 5/12/10, USA TODAY)

Federal, state and local income taxes consumed 9.2% of all personal income in 2009, the lowest rate since 1950, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That rate is far below the historic average of 12% for the last half-century. The overall tax burden hit bottom in December at 8.8.% of income before rising slightly in the first three months of 2010.

"The idea that taxes are high right now is pretty much nuts," says Michael Ettlinger, head of economic policy at the liberal Center for American Progress.

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 14, 2010 6:46 AM