The people have spoken. But what did they say? Now that the election is over, the President has commented that the Democrats received a "shellacking." The House Speaker elect says that the Republicans got "a second chance." Both agree that the people have spoken, but disagree on what exactly the voters said.

The President has stated that he did not explain his programs properly. The Speaker elect says the voters rejected the programs. The election either was or was not about health care, taxes, and the over-regulation of America.

One of the sound bites of Paul Ryan (R. Wisconsin) is "The government does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem."

While I certainly agree that the government has a spending problem, it seems to me the country has revenue problem, as well.

Businesses and individuals live in a complex spider web of taxes and regulations that are a burden. Personal income tax is so complicated that neither the Director of the IRS nor the Secretary of the Treasury is able to do their own taxes, yet the typical small business must file returns that are considerably more complex than the personal income tax form.

Our company just finished a state sales and use tax audit that consumed more than 30 man days of our labor just to prepare the paperwork requested by the auditor. The cost of 30 man days does not show up on any government report, but it was worked and paid for and yet contributed nothing to serving our customers better; it was just something that had to be done to comply with yet another tax pushed on business because the politicians do not want to go before the voters with requests for more money.

Rather than raise existing taxes, local, state and federal governments have implemented new kinds of taxes, requiring more government agencies which push more work on business. Perhaps the new congress will hold hearings on the complete problem of taxation in America. Now that would be change I could believe in.

Thanks for reading,

Rich Hassert

Email responses to: publisher@slipperyrockgazette.net

")