Those of us Americans who remember a time without the modern income tax are a dying breed. Enacted through the 16th Amendment in 1913, the income tax has become a fixture and a central point of revenue collection of the federal government. States have obviously adopted this way of financing their governments, as well.

In looking at the full history of the income tax in this country, there is at least one parallel--war. The first income tax was levied during the War of 1812, after the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress and the US Constitution. It was later repealed, but appeared again in 1862, during the Civil War. It resurfaced again in 1894 and 1895 but disappeared both times (no major involvement of the United States in a war). Just over a hundred years after it's first major implementation, the income tax was reintroduced to stay. World War I followed shortly thereafter.

Not always has income tax been levied for the express purpose of financing a war, but in some cases it definitely has. In 1943, tax withholdings of wages was instituted, causing the number of people who paid taxes to soar to 60 million. It has not looked back since.

I bring this all up because we are yet again in the middle of tax season. I read once that 70% (of tax filers, I assume) receive a tax refund of some kind. In other words, through deductions, people are able to show they've paid more income tax than what they owe, so they get a portion, all or more of the taxes removed from their paychecks back.

To me, preparing an income tax return has always been a royal waste of time. Keeping track of every last deductible item to reduce my taxable income just so I can get back money which was mine and really should have never gone to the US government in the first place. They don't pay me interest on the money withheld while it's sitting in their coffers, yet they'll charge me interest and penalties if I don't have my wages withheld during the course of the year and then pay it the following year when my taxes are done, or they'll charge me if I end up owing more and arrange to pay it over time.

I've tried to imagine a world without income tax, and it's hard. Keeping track of all income and expenses in my business revolves around taxes. Sure, it's a sound business practice to know what's coming in and what's going out, but for those of us who aren't a part of the stock market or the Fortune 500, the only entities which are going to care about how much we earned during the course of the year, other than ourselves, are our federal and state governments.

Who knows if the fair tax is the answer. I like the idea of a consumption tax if it's capped, if can go down, and if all other taxes are eliminated. I think it has great potential for greater revenue and greater prosperity. What's the likelihood of it coming into being any time soon, or will it go the way of the flat tax and every other simplified tax plan? Meanwhile, the IRS rolls on, and so does the tax code, to 60,000 pages strong, easily the largest book on one subject in existence.

We can send people to the moon, clone sheep, cure all matters of diseases, hurtle particle waves across an expanse and create digital replicas of life but we can't simplify the tax code? We can't make it so April 15 doesn't exist because sufficient tax has been taken out from our paychecks.

The more I think about it, the more I'd love to experience a world with only a sales tax. Not only would it be simpler come tax time, it would be simpler the rest of the year, when I have to keep track of my expenses so I can justify my deductions. I've been audited once. It is not a fun thing, and it can take months to undo something. Fortunately, in my circumstances, everything came out fine in the end. For several months, though, it didn't look like it would.

Those of us who are essentially using the US government as a place to save money, interest free, so they can spend it in mid-April (if they don't just turn around and use it to pay bills, which they would have done anyway), need to realize there are better uses of their money. That $3,000 or whatever it is could have been sitting in an interest bearing account, an investment, part of a down payment on a property or a car. It costs money for the US government to collect it, and it costs the US government money to return it. You can all be happy that you're getting a refund, but why give it, or as much of it, to the US government in the first place?

I say let's get the fair tax implemented, and then get it going in every state in the Union. And instead of 23% for just the federal resale tax, force the federal government to gradually but markedly reduce itself back to what the Founders intended, and do the same thing with State government, so that a combined sales tax would shrink below 20%, maybe below 15%.

Otherwise, the federal government is just going to keep growing, if we the people don't stop it.