Use tax system to your advantage

To the editor:

I would like to offer an alternative plan to the Fair Tax plan offered by Neil Boortz and U.S. Rep. Linder in their book and also the flat-tax plan offered by Steve Forbes and others. My plan features a progressive tax with a 10 percent start rate. A large number of taxpayers would have a marginal rate of 15 percent on taxable income up to $58,000. The plan would offer credits for children, education, retirement and adoptive taxpayers.

Actually, it's not my plan. It's the federal income tax. You can use the tax system to pay your income tax as well as your Social Security and Medicare taxes. You can plan retirement savings, build a house or contribute to a charity, all with tax savings.

I am a tax preparer, and I encourage taxpayers to work within our system for their best advantage. The president and Congress have worked to flatten the rate schedule and to build in larger credits. We have to raise adequate funds to meet our budgeted expenditures-. We have no assurance that any alternative plan would meet our revenue requirement.

GERALD STEVENS, Marble Hill, Mo.