BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — On Wednesday’s Tax Day edition of Yellowhammer Radio, host Cliff Sims made a suggestion for how the country could radically change the way it views taxes and the IRS—by abolishing automatic income tax withholding and making Tax Day also Election Day.
“Now, I’m getting my personal and business taxes prepared to go for today,” Sims began the segment, “and moments like this make me wish that every American could experience owning their own business and feel what it’s like to actually have to write that check to the government… to save money throughout the year, watch it accumulate over time, then actually have to write the giant check to the government.”
“I believe that automatic tax withholding is one of the most maniacally brilliant things that the government has ever done,” he declared. “They quietly extract money from workers throughout the country slowly over time throughout the year, and many people don’t even pay attention to it anymore.”
Sims said he thinks this method of tax paying numbs Americans to the sting of forking over an enormous amount of money — $3.34 trillion last year alone — to the Federal government.
Even the U.S. Treasury Department admitted on its website prior to 2009 that automatic withholdings lessens taxpayers’ awareness of taxes and decreases transparency.
Since being implemented as a temporary emergency measure to raise cash quickly during WWII, the automatic withholding has become just another part of life for many Americans.
“Now there are people who actually like tax day because they get a refund,” Sims said. “They actually think the government is giving them money, instead of realizing that they… gave the government an interest free loan all year long.”
In addition to abolishing automatic withholdings and forcing workers to have to actually write a check to the government to pay their taxes, Sims also had an interesting proposal for when Tax Day should take place.
“There’s a reason tax day and election day are so far apart,” he said. “I propose we throw out tax withholdings and make everyone write a check once a quarter or, even better, once a year, and make the day that happens Election Day. So the same day you have to write your tax check to the government, you are also going to cast a ballot for the people in office who are responsible for the tax system that’s in place, and also responsible for the product that you bought with your tax dollars.”
Check out more of Sims’ tax ideas in the audio clip above.
Yellowhammer Radio airs every weekday from 12-1 p.m. and can be streamed live on the show’s flagship station, Superstation 101.1, WYDE.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
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