Paying Taxes and the Spirit of Elijah

I have always been told that the tax code is overly complicated, and I believed it, but I got to experience it for the first time ever this week.  And yes, as it turns out, I owed the federal government a grand total of $51.  I am now a more firm believer in changing the tax code to fit on the back of a postcard.  My personal opinion is that the consumption tax seems to be the best method.  Here's how it would work:

1. List total income from wages, salaries, and all the other stuff the government feels like the can tax you on.
2. Subtract a flat deduction of $5500, for example. The exact number will probably figured out by some bureaucrat somewhere.
3. Then subtract what you can document has been placed in a savings account of those earnings.
4. What's left will be taxed at a flat rate of, say 20%.  The number will depend on what gets the government enough money to operate efficiently.  Yes, it'll probably be that high.  But, there will be no sales tax, or any other tax of any kind. 

No other taxes!?  Is that possible?  Yes, if you do it right.  Any government worker could verify that the numbers were added correctly.  However, this plan will probably never be implemented.  I don't think the IRS would like to lose their job in these hard economic times.

But could a state, like Utah, implement this on their own?  Of course they could.  I think it would simplify all the state taxes, and encourage business in our state, since there wouldn't be any taxes on businesses.  And this encourages saving your money!  That would solve a lot of economic problems.  I only wish that Utah could make an agreement with the federal government that its citizens would be paying their federal income tax collectively, and to tell the state how much we owe them as a state, probably appropriated based on population.  Then taxes would all fit on the back of a postcard and wouldn't have to travel very far.

At this point, you're probably wondering what this has to do with the Spirit of Elijah.  I'll tell you: absolutely nothing.

The Spirit of Elijah was very evidently this past week as well though.  My parents are planning on traveling to France this summer in order to do some research about my mom's side of the family.  We know that my grandfather was born in France, but we don't know a whole lot else about that side of the family.  I got the chance to work with my dad on this project, along with a project to document all the descendants of my 4th-great-grandfather.  I've learned so much about my ancestors and feel more connected to them.  I also feel the strong desire to make sure that they are all able to receive the blessings of the temple.

As part of this trip, my parents are also going to visit my uncle, Tom, (who isn't really my uncle, but the exact relation is too complicated to remember) who fought in World War II and is buried in the Henri-Chapelle cemetery in Belgium.  I didn't even know that I had an ancestor that was a war veteran.  I also learned at my great-uncle Dale's funeral, that he had served as a Marine in World War II as well.  It turns out that my family is very interesting after all.