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The Automated Payment Transaction Tax (APT) by Edgar L. Feige PhD University of Wisconsin Professor of Economics.

By capitalizing on financial data processing technology, it is possible to create a tax code for the 21st century; one that is astonishingly easy for all citizens to understand, that is easy to administer and to comply with because it eliminates the need to file tax or information returns. 

The system, developed by Edgar L. Feige, is known as the APT or Automated Payments Transaction Tax and it would apply a micro fee to all financial transactions split equally between the two sides of the transaction.

Most of the value in a modern economy consists of financial dealings; sales of stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives, currency exchanges, and transactions of goods and services at millions of point of sale terminals.

The APT would eliminate the tax complex. Gone would be personal, corporate, property, estate, capital gain, income, sales, excise and all manner of taxes or levies disguised as fees as well as the elimination of tax returns, deductions and special interest exemptions.

Implementation of this elegant and simple idea in Canada would allow Canadians to create an original, authentic social organization that would eventually be copied by all other nations; unless of course the incumbents are afraid of change and would rather cling to their failed state agenda.

Let's apply the power of the internet to get this Automated Payments Transaction Tax idea into the mainstream and into application. Canadians, write your Canadian Member of Parliament.

Ramifications of Implementing the APT

As with any major change what is viewed as positive for one group may be considered a negative for another. These are listed in accord with the expected majority point of view.

Think about the desirability and feasibility of replacing the present system of personal and corporate income, sales, excise, capital gains, import and export duties, gift and estate taxes with a single comprehensive revenue neutral Automated Payment Transaction (APT) tax.

In its simplest form, the APT tax consists of a flat tax levied on all transactions. The tax is automatically assessed and collected when transactions are settled through the electronic technology of the banking/ payments system.

The APT tax introduces progressivity through the tax base since the volume of final payments includes exchanges of titles to property and is therefore more highly skewed than the conventional income or consumption tax base.

The wealthy carry out a disproportionate share of total transactions and therefore bear a disproportionate burden of the tax despite its flat rate structure.

The automated recording of all APT tax payments by firms and individuals creates a degree of transparency and perceived fairness that induces greater tax compliance. Also, the tax has lower administrative and compliance cost.

Like all taxes, the APT tax creates new distortions whose costs must be weighted against the benefits obtained by replacing the current tax system.