Edonia Part 3 - Taxes

While your beloved Emperor was having lunch one day in the beautiful nation of Edonia, he couldn't help notice a man next to him a the lunch counter filling out a tax form. The form was a single page and had little writing on it--very similar to the 1040-EZ form used in our own nation. I asked the man, who was middle aged, if I could ask him questions about Edonian tax policy. He said he'd be happy too so I began by asking him what tax bracket he was in as he obviously had a simple form. He replied that there was only one bracket for all citizens of Edonia. All Edonians are taxed at a flat rate of 15% regardless of how much income they made. He said there were only one tax deduction that could be made and that was through charitable giving. The government would send out a list of approved charities that tax payers could select to receive up to 5% of their tax money. The charities had to have an overhead of no greater than 10% and they had to help poor citizens with living expenses or medical expenses. By doing this, they were able to eliminate government welfare programs entirely. They also found that this system provided a surplus of money that was held by the charities in special funds that could be used in times of war or disaster. The remaining 10% of the tax revenue went to pay for national defense, law enforcement, legal system, and the administrative costs of government. The cost of local government services were funded by sales taxes, property taxes, and fees for services. There were no additional local income taxes. I asked him how long it typically took him to fill out his income tax form each year. He said it took only a few minutes and that he had completed this year's form while we were talking.