The sustainable tax was not hatched from research work or necessarily for the purpose of improving the current U.S. income tax system, albeit it needs much improvement. It was conceived with the help of George H. Bush during his 1986 stump speech in Pioneer Square Oregon. George doesn’t know this of course, nor did he develop the idea of the sustainable tax. He simply stood up at the podium doing what all prospective politicians do and propose what they think is the right thing to do and it was not the sustainable tax. George was unassumingly to be the catalyst of the sustainable tax.
The author of the sustainable tax – Greg Kingsfield just happened to be in the crowd standing forty feet from the vice-presidential contender. George like his running mate Ronald Reagan, espoused low taxes to fuel the economy. It would be the next line out of George’s mouth that would be the stimulus for the sustainable tax. He stated that business creates jobs and that you need low corporate income taxes to spur business that create jobs.
This was the “Ah-Ha” moment for Greg. He quickly realized that what this vice-presidential contender said is false. Business does not create jobs, but it is the demand of goods and services that produce jobs. Furthermore, cutting income taxes would not necessarily be good for the economy, but changing what is taxed would maximize economic output-hence Greg’s tax idea.
The next milestone for the sustainable tax would be finding the right person to see it’s merit and promote it. This is not in the nature of the author. Greg is academic in nature and would never promote the idea. Evidently after many conversations with people including myself which, I do not recall, finally had my attention. After all, what sane person would be interested in tax policy. Moreover, the twitter mentality of this generation certainly would not have the focus for such a topic.
In 2010 I came face to face with the insanity of our current tax system. I had prepared my taxes after a recent divorce and my effective tax rate leaped from 6% to 18%. Talk about rubbing salt in a wound. When your bottom line is affected, that gets your attention in short order.
It took many more years to get me (co-author) motivated to formalize the sustainable tax. The first order of business was to create this website. With the help of my professional colleagues and the Toastmaster Club 197 I have been perfecting the idea. While all of this was in motion I began working on the sustainable tax book. The day job, kids, and life would impede progress of the sustainable tax. However, here we are at this juncture to share what TheSustainableTax.org believes is a viable alternative to the U.S. income tax system that demands a closer look.