NORWOOD, Mass. -- Complexity and loopholes have created a burdensome and inefficient tax collection system that costs Americans immeasurable dollars each year.

A Simple More Efficient Tax Collection System for America by Paula N. Singer, Esq., an attorney with tax compliance and software experience spanning three decades, outlines a plan to fix our ailing federal tax collection system.

"This election year brings many proposals on how to change the tax system in America," Singer said. "However, fixing the tax system isn't something easy and must be well thought out because of interdependencies built into our current tax systems.

"Federal tax reformers focus on economics, fairness, and equity, but generally ignore the ripple effect their proposals may have on these other tax systems that will negatively impact America's taxpayers." Singer continued. "The book focuses on the tax collection process and the interdependence of tax systems -- federal, state, local, and international."

Among her suggestions are:

-- Create a mix of taxes -- consumption taxes, corporate income taxes,
personal income taxes, and payroll taxes -- all at relatively low
rates, to provide less incentive for tax evasion and, therefore, less
enforcement

-- Introduce a credit-invoice VAT (a value-added tax -- the type of
consumption tax chosen by over 130 countries) allowing for border
adjustment of taxes -- taxing imports but not exports

-- Eliminate the double-taxation of profits by taxing distributed
profits once, at the individual level when dividends are paid (a Bush
I proposal), thereby reducing the number of flow-through entities --
S Corps, partnerships, and LLCs taxed as partnerships -- that impose
their complexities as well as multi-state tax return filing
obligations on their owners (according to Congressional Research
Services net business income received by unincorporated businesses
has increased since 1980 from 21 percent to 60 percent)

-- Prune the preferences and encourage savings by allowing individual
taxpayers to exclude $1,000 of unearned income (a $200 exclusion was
eliminated from our tax system decades ago)