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The Real Property Use Tax (RPUT) is a proposed tax system with assessment based on the size, level of development, and time-in-use of real property, and designed for general revenue acquisition. The tax system has been proposed by Timothy Gillis as a replacement for the federal income tax in the United States.^[1]

Contents 1 Tax system design 2 Proposed advantages 3 Implementation and transition 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References

[edit] Tax system design

The Real Property Use Tax (RPUT) is a tax system designed for general revenue acquisition, with assessment based on real property. Real property is the term that denotes land and the permanent structures affixed to it, such as houses, office buildings, factories, swimming pools, parking lots, etcetera.^[2]

Both landowners and renters or leaseholders (land users) are assessed under the RPUT. Land use parameters and four "Basic Rates" are set by Congress to reflect a relative, proportional Service-to-Ownership and Service-to-Use liability. The government’s budget, or that portion of the budget to be taxed through the RPUT, is applied, via algebraic calculation, to the four Basic Rates to produce a budgetary "Master Rate" at the end of the year, or whenever RPUT assessment is denoted. The Master Rate can then be applied to the individual taxpayer’s property base to calculate his tax. ^[3]

Formulas
• Master Rate^[4]
• Basic RPUT^[5]
• Rental Property^[6]
• Base-Land-Status Types^[7]

Real Property Use Tax Law (draft)
• RPUTL ^[8]

[edit] Proposed advantages

Gillis suggests these operational advantages for the RPUT:

• Assessment is based on and limited to the actual cost of government.
• Neither income nor sales are taxed, so there is maximum support for trade and heightened productivity (creation of wealth).
• Individual assessment is proportional, including liability for general governmental and welfare expenses.
• Aid and subsidy, when warranted, is done in the daylight of direct appropriations and not through political manipulation of the tax code.
• Tax system conditions are standardized and long term economic planning is thus supported, while still allowing for increase or decreases in appropriations (government spending).
• The RPUT is politically neutral; it provides a stable and objective mechanism for applying the cost of government after the type and level of government spending has been decided.
• Deficit spending is not precluded, but future individual liability can be projected.
• The assessment mechanism is objective and simple to operate.
• Tax avoidance and evasion would be difficult or impossible, preventing unjust cost shifts to other, paying taxpayers.
• Calculation of both proposed and actual taxes for the individual taxpayer can be almost instantaneous, delivering efficient financial management and fiscal review.

[edit] Implementation and transition

Political requirements satisfied, the RPUT would require carefully planned technical implementation and transition from the legacy income tax system. One of the first tasks would be to fully identify the physical tax base.

Land and the developed space on it would have to be identified. Existing legal description may be sufficient for undeveloped land, but developed elements would need external surveys to determine developed space. Contemporary GPS and laser sighting tools might reduce surveys for smaller properties to minutes, larger properties would be more involved.^[9]

A major task would be the financial transition between tax systems. The RPUT study suggests creating a new federal tax agency, the Federal Tax Service Agency (FTSA) to administer the RPUT, and run the current federal tax agency, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), concurrently with the FTSA for a given number of years, gradually transferring personnel and resources, as appropriate, to the FTSA.^[10]

Additional public review, academic inspection and advanced computer modeling should be applied to The Real Property Use Tax (RPUT) to determine its ultimate practicality.^[11]

[edit] See also

• American History
• Consumption tax
• FairTax
• Flat tax
• Income tax in the United States
• Sales taxes in the United States
• Tax Reform
• Taxation in the United States

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Gillis, Timothy J. (1999). Taxation and National Destiny: A Tax Systems Analysis and Proposal. (San Diego: Maximus Profectus). ISBN 0-9667434-1-5.