Under the proposed tax system, the form below could replace all your federal forms and schedules and state income tax forms. (There would only be one additional schedule for those with a small business.) There would be no capital gains taxes, sales taxes, use tax, property taxes, estate tax, or tolls. Practically anyone could fill it out in about one hour without needing a tax preparer. There could be online and spreadsheet versions in which, after you fill out 25 lines (the yellow ones below), the calculations would be done for you. In fact, since nearly all figures are from forms both you and the IRS would receive, the IRS could send you a pre-filled form. You would then need to to confirm or correct the information, sign it, and send it back.

The form below is filled out with the tax information for the Essay's hypothetical middle-class Smith family. It does not include their projected excise taxes of $2500. Excise taxes would be paid at the time of purchase of excise items, like cigarettes and fossil fuels.

To get a blank form to try out, download this Excel Spread Sheet: TAX FORM

To get a comparison of your tax bill under the current tax system and under the proposed Fair Share Tax system, download and fill out the: Tax Change Calculator

[All down-loadable forms on this site have been virus-scanned on a Mac before they were up-loaded to the site.]