Posted on 07/26/2008 4:54:58 AM PDT by Man50D
Like all the great nations and societies of history the United States is rapidly coming to the end of its existence as a great and powerful country. The shackles of our nearly 70,000 page tax code are making us less and less able to compete in the global economy. Our tax on capital is cutting our businesses off at the knees. Our highest earners have half their income confiscated by the IRS. All of these taxes along with the cost of complying with nearly unfathomable tax regulations put us at a severe disadvantage as competitors in the global economy since these expenses must be added to the price of the goods and services we sell.
Ireland with its business friendly tax laws has experienced a huge economic boom while because of its punitive taxes the United States has experienced an economic slowdown. The Irish are praying that we do not adopt the FairTax. They recognize that the relocation of American companies to Ireland was precipitated by our smothering taxes on capital and labor. Ireland realizes that the establishment of the FairTax would give America the best business climate in the world drawing its American companies back home along with attracting many other foreign businesses.
The passage of the simple, fair, and transparent FairTax Bill, only 132 pages long, will abolish all Federal income taxes, including personal, estate, gift, capital gains, alternative minimum, corporate, payroll, and self-employment taxes, and replace them with one simple, visible, personal consumption tax. It would tax what we remove from society by consumption instead of taxing what we contribute to society by production and investment.
Every American household would receive a cash distribution every month to cover the consumption taxes they would spend for their basic nourishment, housing, transportation, and medical needs. There will be zero taxes paid for necessities. Beyond what Americans spend for necessities 23% of what they choose to spend at the retail level for personal use will be forwarded to the treasury. The FairTax will replace dollar for dollar the current revenues confiscated by the IRS.
Politicians have been changing the tax code since 1913 to gain the favor of one voting bloc or another. We have had some 16,000 changes to the code since the mid-eighties and the problems these changes were supposed to help have been exacerbated or replaced with other problems. Therefore, the changes go on and on and on and the power it yields to our politicians corrupts them more and more and more. Our tax code has driven $2 trillion into the underground economy costing us about $50 billion in tax collections. Our tax code has driven $12 trillion into offshore financial centers. These funds should be working in our markets and banks. We are spending between $400 and $500 billion each year just complying with the code. That money is a total and unnecessary loss to the economy.
Everybody complains about the complexity, unfairness, and intrusiveness of the IRS. Our politicians in response to our complaints all claim to be for reforming the tax code but reforming it is not the solution. It does not need reforming. It needs to be replaced by the FairTax. Top American businessmen, tax experts, and economists have devoted years to the development of the simple, fair, and transparent FairTax Bill. These experts spent some 12 years formulating the FairTax Bill. At the pace of our do nothing Congress it would take 1200 years to reform our hopelessly complicated Tax Code. Tweaking the Tax Code fixes nothing. Getting rid of the IRS fixes everything.
When John Linder and some of his FairTax supporters presented the FairTax Bill to former Secretary of the Treasury, John Snow, he said, You have just proposed the largest magnet for capital and jobs in history. It is a good thing for all Americans for the United States to be the outsource destination for jobs. It is a good thing for all Americans for our nation to be the worlds safest and most stable tax haven. The FairTax will give us these results as well as a business climate that will expand freedom.
Not if they're replaced with other, and for the most part better, jobs.
The 1950s heavy industry economy is gone forever. It will never return without heavy-handed government intervention at something close to a command economy level.
Is that really what you want?
Yeah, right louie. Today a corporation is taxed on what it earns and then the money used to purchase that company's goods is AFTER TAX also. Then when the corp pays out a dividend to the shareholders it is also taxed.
That's supposed to be better than a one time sales tax on the finished product? Huh?
AND, ONE MORE TIME --- How on earth does that make REpresentative Linders statement, "The shackles of our nearly 70,000 page tax code are making us less and less able to compete in the global economy." factually untrue?
The Fair Tax is one of those great ideas that will remain just that. A great idea.
Like all the great nations and societies of history the United States is rapidly coming to the end of its existence as a great and powerful country. The shackles of our nearly 70,000 page tax code are making us less and less able to compete in the global economy. Our tax on capital is cutting our businesses off at the knees. Our highest earners have half their income confiscated by the IRS. All of these taxes along with the cost of complying with nearly unfathomable tax regulations put us at a severe disadvantage as competitors in the global economy since these expenses must be added to the price of the goods and services we sell.
If we could beat our competitors by a very large margin but are only beating by a smaller margin because of these things then we are less competitive. As the taxes and regulations, plus frivolous lawsuits and onerous labor union rules, get more severe, and they are likely to, we will then be even less competitive.
Our strong and growing stronger competitors are China, India and the Indonesians where labor is so cheap as to offset many other problems they may have. I have no ideas what their taxes are but I have read many complaints that the workers are nearly as coddled and "protected" by the government, adding to costs, as ours are.
Take you strawman elsewhere.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Taken from http://fairtaxblog.blogspot.com/2004/09/inclusive-vs-exclusive-tax-rate.html]
The FairTax is a 23% inclusive sales tax. It's important to understand what that "inclusive" means so that you understand what the rate really means. When you compute a tax on a dollar you can either compute it inclusively or exclusively.
For example, the sales tax you are used to at the cash register today is an exclusive rate. The rate is applied to the price you pay exclusive of the tax applied. So if you are used to a state sales tax rate of 8% and you purchased something that was worth a dollar you would pay $1.00 + 8% of $1.00 = $1.08.
The income tax you pay is usually computed as an inclusive rate, it is applied against the dollar you earn inclusive of the amount you are paying in taxes. So if your income tax rate is 25% and you earn $1.00 then your tax is $0.25 and you get to keep $0.75.
The FairTax 23% sales tax rate is an inclusive rate. What this means is that I hand the cashier $1.00 to pay for something then $0.77 goes to pay for the good, and $0.23 of goes is paid in taxes. This is different than the way you are used to thinking about sales taxes. The reason the FairTax rate is quoted this way is to assist in comparison with current payroll and income taxes.
If you earn $1.00 but pay 15.3% in payroll tax and 10% in income tax, but have no federal sales tax then your purchasing power per dollar earned is $0.747.
If you earn $1.00 under the FairTax but and pay 23% inclusive in sales tax for a retail purchase of a new good or service then your purchasing power per dollar earned is $0.77. Please note however that your purchasing power per dollar earned for used goods is $1.00. Also remember that for every dollar that you earn and choose to save or invest you get $1.00 worth of savings and investment.
So quoting the FairTax rate inclusively makes it easier to compare the FairTax with the existing income tax, but makes it harder to compare it with the existing sales taxes. Just to make things clear, the exclusive rate for the FairTax is 30%.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They may be tax but all taxes are not the same. All taxes have theirown unique attributes which do not easily compare even to other taxes. So an analogy is made in order using the terms attributable to one tax to explain another.
The bottom line result is the ultimate dollar amount of tax is the same. The rate is different but the result is the same.
Certainly US labor would be more competitive if our cost of living was lower, will the FairTax fix that?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.