2012: How Many Pages Are There In the U.S. Tax Code Today?

How many pages does it take for the CCH Standard Tax Reporter to fully document the U.S. tax code as it stands in 2012?

If you answered 73,608, you're right. Note that we didn't say "you win"!...

Update 24 February 2013: For the answer for 2013, see here!

Believe it or not, that's within 1.3%, or 956 pages, of the number of pages that our tool below would predict that the CCH Standard Tax Reporter would be this year!

Year in Which to Estimate or Project Tax Code Complexity
Input Data	Values
Year

Number of Pages Required To Record U.S. Federal Tax Code
Calculated Results	Values
Estimated Number of Pages

You might think that our tool being "off" by 956 pages is a bad thing that might depress us! But it's it's really a cause for celebration, especially when you consider real reason why the U.S. tax code isn't growing as much as our tool would predict: it's a direct benefit of having the laziest U.S. Senate perhaps ever in U.S. history!

How High Will the Top Income Tax Rate Go?

Now that we've covered your ideas for what might work for a flat income tax for the U.S., let's say you're one of those really twisted people who don't care how twisted you make the income tax code, so long as you stick it to the topmost income earners in any given year. Even if they're never really the same people.

How high might you be able to realistically set that topmost income tax rate given that you need to get your proposal through the U.S. Congress?

Once upon a time, we created a tool that makes it possible to predict how high U.S. politicians will set the maximum personal income tax rate in the U.S., depending upon three things:

• The size of the U.S.' national debt.


• The nation's GDP, and;


• Its population.

This exercise is especially timely now that President Obama and his Democratic Party are pushing to hike that top rate to 50%, which includes the so-called "Buffett tax", it's time to see how well our tool works.

U.S. Economic Data
Input Data	Values
National Debt [trillions USD]
Nominal GDP [trillions USD]
Population

Where Might the Politicians Set the Top Tax Rate?
Calculated Results	Values
Debt Burden per Capita (or Debt-to-Income-to-Population Index Value)
Where Old School Politicians Would Set the Top Tax Rate
Where Today's Politicians Would Set the Top Tax Rate

Using our tool with the default data, which represents the most recent data available on 17 April 2012, we find that today's national debt burden per capita scores in at 3.168, which translates to an "old school" maximum income tax rate of 72.6%. Modern politicians are a different breed however, preferring to stay closer to the margins where changes in the nation's maximum personal income tax rate are likely to be triggered for the political advantages such a strategy offers. Our tool finds that they would set the top tax rate at 49.2%.

President Obama and the congressional Democrats are currently proposing to raise the top tax rate to 50.0%.

We should note that the real difference between the "old school" and "modern" politicians is that the "old school" politicians didn't actually know where the margins for triggering changes in the top income tax rate are - it's something that's had to be worked out by political trial and error. It has really only been since the late 1960s, and really, since the 1980s, that U.S. politicians appear to have registered any sort of recognition that these margins exist.

Comparing Today with the Past

The first time we featured this tool back in April 2009, the U.S. national debt was only 11.15 trillion dollars, U.S. GDP was 14.2 trillion dollars and the U.S. population was estimated to be 306,170,293. The national debt burden per capita was 2.565, which corresponds to an "old school" top tax rate of 62.1%. Modern politicians would the top tax rate would be somewhere close to 40% with that old data. And President Obama was, at the time, seeking to let the Bush-era tax cuts expire, which would push the top marginal income tax rate up to 39.6%.

The reason today's predicted maximum income tax rate has risen to 49.2% since that time is completely due to President Obama's spending, which has significantly driven up the national debt.

Of course, we foresaw that President Obama would push for higher income tax rates back in December 2009 as well, finding that the sharp rise in the national debt through that point in time would likely result in the maximum personal income tax rate in the U.S. being set somewhere between 44 and 45%.

And that's exactly where they're currently set to rise in 2013, thanks to the new taxes that congressional Democrats and President Obama imposed through the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare").

Adding in President's Obama and the congressional Democrats' "Buffett Tax" of 5.4% is how we get to the new proposed top income tax rate of 49% 50%.

Which either means that they're overshooting where they should set the top income tax rate, or are planning to crank up spending and the national debt even more to make that rate seem to make sense.

Updating the Chart

As you might imagine, tracking the interaction between the United States' national debt, GDP, population and U.S. politicians for the sake of predicting how high they might try to set the maximum personal income tax rate gets pretty complicated. Fortunately, we have a chart that visualizes all this data, which incorporates President Obama's optimistic national debt and GDP forecasts through 2016:

What can we say? President Obama is nothing else if not depressingly predictable. We've had his number for a pretty long time now....

Speaking of which, here is a criticism of our "Debt Burden per Capita" index value, which we put to practical application for the tool featured in this post. We would describe the critic as a "total crank", who despite our best efforts, would seem to reject the principles of basic algebra that we used to create our index and also completely disregards the idea that a successful practical application of such math trumps their extremely limited perspective on reality. What an empty suit!

Virtual Office Business Model Becoming an Attractive Alternative to Traditional Office Space in Queens NY

Virtual officeservices and serviced office space are quickly becoming a favored alternative to traditional office space in Queens, New York.

The Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows , which opened in October of 2011, is the first such office center to open in the borough of Queens, and has already attracted over one hundred tenants and virtual tenants!

I am a personal believer in the virtual office business model for small businesses.  It’s such a practical and cost-effective alternative to traditional office space, it is just a matter of time before it changes the office rental marketplace forever.

The borough of Queens, NY, is a latecomer to the virtual office concept.  It's somewhat surprising, considering the fact that the idea has been around for a while, and that it's such an important component of the marketplace for office space in Manhattan. I believe that the economy of Queens, which consists primarily of small businesses, makes the virtual office model particularly relevant.

Over 100 companies have joined the Queens Executive Office Center since it opened last year. Nearly 40% of the firms are attorneys.  They are the ideal candidates for this type of office space. A lot of them don't really need full time office space, just a place to meet an occasional client. We have quite a few social workers and accountants, as well. But the rest of the companies span the professional and entrepreneurial spectrum from environmental consultants to real estate brokers.

This past week, the Executive Office Center was joined by the Law offices of Heath Goldstein & Caitlin Donahue, Expert Elevator Corp, Best Senior Home Care, the Eilav Law Firm and Lynx Electrical Corp.

When I started out in business 35 years ago, I wish I could have opened an office in Queens for $39/month and look like the consummate professional! With the advent of virtual offices, you can make it appear as if you have already conquered the world!

Why is this man upset with the Executive Office Center at Fresh Meadows?

Redesign Your Own Flat Income Tax!

Now that you've gone through the ever-increasing hassle of filing your annual income taxes, especially if it took you until today to file your income taxes for 2011, perhaps you're now thinking to yourself "there's got to be a better way to do this!"

So why don't you invent one?

What if you were in charge of reforming the U.S. individual income tax? Would you consider ditching today's excessively complex tax code in favor of something much, much simpler? Something like a flat income tax, perhaps?

If so, you've come to the right place! Our featured tool for this post, which we originally introduced in September 2011, puts you in the driver's seat for determining how the nation's, and your own, fortunes would fare under such a system!

In the tool below, all you need to do is enter the percentage income tax rate that would apply to all Americans, from Warren Buffett on down to his pool of non-amused secretaries, along with the value of a single tax credit, which would be provided to each individual American, again regardless of who they are.

After that, if you want to see how your or your family's income taxes might change as a result of your dramatic proposal, enter your household's total money income (whether you earned a salary, wages, capital gains, and/or dividends) and the number of individuals who would be covered by it (sorry, pets and other livestock need not apply!)

Flat Tax Data
Input Data	Values
Flat Income Tax Rate [%]
Value of One Individual Tax Credit [$]
Your Household's Tax Data
Your Household's Total Money Income
Number of Individuals Covered on Your Tax Return	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

How Well Would the Federal Government Do With Your Flat Tax?
Estimated Results		Values
Aggregate Total Money Income
Aggregate Income Taxes, Before Tax Credits
Aggregate Total Tax Credits
How Much Money Would the Government Collect?
Estimated Results	With Your Flat Tax in 2010	Actual Income Tax in 2010
Aggregate Income Taxes, After All Tax Credits
... as a Percent of 2010 GDP

How Well Would You Do With Your Flat Tax?
Calculated Results	Values
Your Basic Income Tax, Before Tax Credits
Your Tax Credits
Do You Owe, Or Will You Get a Refund?
Amount of Taxes You Owe, Or...
Amount of Your Refund
Your Effective Income Tax Rate and After Tax Income
Your Effective Income Tax Rate (After Tax Credits)
Your After Tax Income

About the Tool

We used our model of the 2010 aggregate distribution of household total money income for the U.S. in generating the "how would the federal government do with your flat tax?" portion of the tool, along with the U.S. GDP for 2010, and the IRS' count of the number of exemptions reported on tax forms for 2009 (the most recent year this data is available.)

The rest was just simple math! (Trust us - you should see how the IRS does quadratic equations!)

Final Thoughts

In 2011, it took 72,536 pages to document the ins and outs of the U.S. tax code. We whipped our tool up yesterday afternoon. If you're into simple, this is about as simple as it gets.

Do you think anyone in Washington, D.C. wants that?

Data Sources

White House Office of Management and Budget. Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2012. Table 2.1 - Receipts by Source: 1934-2016. [Excel Spreadsheet]. 14 February 2011. Accessed 28 September 2011.

Bureau of Economic Analysis. Gross Domestic Product: Second Quarter 2011 (Second Estimate). 26 August 2011. Accessed 28 September 2011.

Internal Revenue Service. Selected Income and Tax Items for Selected Years (in Current and Constant Dollars). Individual Complete Report (Publication 1304), Table A, 1990-2009. [Excel Spreadsheet]. Accessed 28 September 2011.

Image Credit: Real Clear Markets (thanks guys!)

Should You Donate to Charity for the Tax Deduction?

Since today is Income Tax Day in the United States, the day to which all good American taxpayers aspire to hold out to before paying any more taxes than they have to, we thought we'd look at the charitable donation tax deduction to see if that might be something that makes sense for you.

After all, what if you would have been better off having a garage sale last year, rather than donating all that stuff to charity?

To find out what the benefit is to you where your taxes are concerned, enter the amount of the charitable donations you might claim on your taxes in our tool below and also enter your marginal tax rate, which is the official income tax bracket to which you belong as an American taxpayer. You can find out which bracket that is by seeing where your Adjusted Gross Income (and today, of all days, is the day you actually know what that number is) puts you according to your tax filing status in the table below, which we borrowed from Bargaineering for 2012:

Tax Bracket	Single	Married Filing Jointly	Head of Household
10% Bracket	$0 – $8,700	$0 – $17,400	$0 – $12,400
15% Bracket	$8,701 – $35,350	$17,401 – $70,700	$12,401 – $47,350
25% Bracket	$35,351 – $85,650	$70,701 – $142,700	$47,351 – $122,300
28% Bracket	$85,651 – $178,650	$142,701 – $217,450	$122,301 – $198,050
33% Bracket	$178,651 – $388,350	$217,451 – $388,350	$198,051 – $388,350
35% Bracket	$388,350+	$388,350+	$388,350+

Now that you know where you stand, enter your numbers in our tool below and we'll tell you how much being charitable pays on your taxes:

Charitable Donation and Tax Data
Input Data	Values
Amount Donated to Charity [$]
Your Marginal Tax Bracket [%]

How Much Lower Will Your Taxes Be Because of Your Charitable Donations?
Calculated Results	Values
Tax Value of Your Charitable Donations

The results in our tool represent how much lower your federal income taxes are as a result of your charitable donations. If you think you could have picked up more money than that from having a garage sale, or say selling your stuff on craiglist or eBay, after taking the additional time and expense associated with any of these activities, then you know which option will work best for your bottom line next year.

If that turns out to be charity, and you're looking for good causes, here are four that we support, each of which seeks to fill very different needs:

• American Red Cross


• Children's Heart Foundation


• Salvation Army


• SMA Foundation

And if you're wondering how much the stuff you might donate to a charity might be worth, the Salvation Army's donation value guide is an invaluable resource.

Previously on Political Calculations

• Tax Deductions for Charity by Income Level


• Charity in America: The Donors


• Charity in America: The Recipients

Double Hump It!

I've talked before about the importance of deciding who belongs in your life and who doesn't. I'm not the first. Solomon said "He who walks with wise men will be wise..." long before anyone every thought about Mark Anthony McCray. There's more to the story, however. Here's a visual tool to help you think about how you go about your relationships - personal and work relationships.

It's called the Double Hump and I learned it years ago.

The concept is very, very simple. Everyone who enters your life or workspace or ministry should either be there a LONG TIME or a SHORT TIME with nobody in the middle. Your goal should be to allow people into your life fairly freely. No walls. Be open. However, you've got a set of values and you need to stick to them. If you discover someone's values are incompatible with your own, they need to go! On the other hand, when you find people who share your same values, whether in ministry or work or personal relationships, these are the people you should endeavor to keep in your life. They are to be treasured!

The middle is the danger zone. That's where your energy drained, your time is wasted and where the other person is being kept away from their best and blessed place in life, too. You're holding on where you should not be. You know they need to go, but you're afraid to let them. Bottom line. Be courageous to let them go. Nobody in the middle. Double hump it!

Please SUBSCRIBE (using the form to the right on this blog!) and also leave me your comments so I know how to serve you better!! If this was helpful, forward it to a friend. Talk to you soon! Please subscribe and visit me on my Live BIG! Die Empty. Facebook page!!

Mastermind Meetings and One-on-One ResultsCoaching

I have a question for you: How much would you pay me to work for you or teach you?

Seriously. If you could hire me to teach you, coach you and train you - how much would you be willing to pay for it? Would changing the direction of your life for the better be worth skipping a few cups of coffee a month? If you could learn new exercises, techniques and strategies for planning your life, building a business, increasing your income and understanding your purpose, would it be worth the price of a meal? I've created a 10 Point Program designed to give you clarity, hope, methods and RESULTS and I'm ready to share it with you!

FIRST, some feedback from one person with whom I've worked...

"Thank you for your help! Talking with you was a great help. I felt like I was at a place where I was no longer able to maximize my potential and need to surround myself with people who are accomplishing great things and who have the capacity and desire to accomplish great things. I have accomplished quite a bit based on the knowledge I gleaned from you. At this point in my life, I am ready to expand my vision and expand my tents and I need the counsel of others to accomplish all that God has in me to do."

Here's another one...

"Some good words for a good man...From the get go Mark became a very inspirational figure for me. Not only did he motivate me to work harder for my goals, but he helped me get one step closer to them. When I needed help and guidance he has been there for me. I know that I can count on him for help, great advice, leadership, or even just an ear. :-) Thanks again!"

The stories continue. I have given a number of people counsel that transformed their lives, but then realized that it would be much better if I put together Mastermind-Accountability-Power Groups to help even more people. I now have so many projects that I'm usually not available to be hired to teach, coach and mentor people one-on-one.

HERE'S THE POINT...

Very rarely, I create a small "Inner Circle" or high-end coaching program, and these normally range from a few hundred to a few thousand per year in tuition (and again, this is for GROUP training and coaching).

And honestly, because I've invested the last several years of my life creating the VERY BEST training programs for all key areas of success with life, business and money - it's actually BETTER to go through one of my highly-organized training programs with a group to benefit from everyone's feedback.

Right now, I'm opening up a new group for a purpose, money, wealth and business training program that I'm going to be teaching over a few weeks. Included in this package of training are some of my very best online business and life-mapping education programs. I just did a little bit of quick math and realized that when you register for this program, you're paying about $9.99 an hour for the incredible training you're getting.

Under ten bucks an hour. Really less than that. And I PREPARE for each of the segments that I facilitate in this training - so it's very conscious, very focused and very effective.

Now, the reality is that I've probably invested at least a thousand hours reading, attending live seminars, learning from mentors, coaching others, testing and implementing the techniques you're going to learn in this program to succeed in life and business...

So it's more like hiring me for pennies an hour to do the research, then asking me to summarize it all for you in easy-to-understand and easy-to-use formats - so you can succeed faster than I did (which many people who have used my trainings have done).

As you can see, I'm trying to give you another perspective on how to think about this important investment in your education and your future success. If you don't educate yourself about life, business, money and wealth, I can guarantee you success won't happen by happenstance.

This program is only open for registration for a few days. I really want you to see the incredible value that you're going to get when you participate in these trainings with me - so I'm offering a no-commitment guarantee. You cancel the program at any time if you don't like it, all you have to do is send me an email and let me know that you gave it a shot, but it's just not right for you. The only thing you've got to lose is your fear, uncertainty and weakness about life, business and money...

Join me today! I hope to see you in the program!

Mark Anthony

P.S. Think about what I said about the $9.99 an hour. This is a real opportunity for you to get trained by me for a bargain.

Please take a few moments to check out my "Live Big. Die Empty." Forum and Blog! "Live Big. Die Empty" contains some of the techniques that I used to start taking my life in a better direction - to start living bigger so that I could bring to fruition everything God placed in me.

You can begin to “Live Big and Die Empty”, too! Start by "Liking" this page http://www.facebook.com/LiveBigDieEmpty and then order my book and you're on your way!

One-Time Vision and Goals Coaching

Have Mark Anthony McCray listen to you and get you on track to success with an Introductory Call! This is a private call - just me and you -for up to one hour. Only $49.00 for the first hour!

Mastermind Group Coaching


I host Mastermind Groups for those interested in on-going work on their vision and goals over the course of a ten month program. Read more about how mastermind groups can work for you here: More About Masterminds! My mastermind telegroups meet virtually on the phone for two hours a month. I've got programs available for people who want to meet with my local group, as well!


Private Vision and Goals Consultation

I do private consultations for Clients who want the impact of my mastermind groups but with privacy. We meet virtually by phone or face-to-face for two hours per month privately. We discuss your dreams and goals and work together on a plan to move you towards higher levels of achievement. My private clients are also welcome to participate in the mastermind calls if they choose.

Just choose the package that's right for you!

Mastermind Coaching Plans

Mastermind TeleGroup : $29.97USD - monthly Local Mastermind Meeting : $34.97USD - monthly One-on-One ResultsCoaching (Remote) : $199.97USD - monthly One-on-One ResultsCoaching (Local) : $299.97USD - monthly

Whether you want to work with me privately or in a group setting, you'll benefit from a 10-Session Program focusing on the following:

1 - Getting to Know the REAL YOU
2 - Clarity in Your Purpose and Passions
3 - Vision and Goal-setting
4 - Developing Plans of Action
5 - Tools to Help You Stay Motivated and Focused
6 - Accountability
7 - Identifying and Connecting to People and Resources

...and much, much more!

All of the most successful people have coaches. Maybe it's time for you to join their ranks?

Please Please take a few moments to SUBSCRIBE (using the form to the right on this blog!) and also leave me your comments so I know how to serve you better!! If this was helpful, forward it to a friend. Talk to you soon! Also, please visit me on my Live BIG! Die Empty. Facebook page!!