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What is the FairTax?
Economic Freedom Coalition . Org ^ | current | Herman Cain

Posted on 04/04/2006 2:17:28 PM PDT by Eaglewatcher

The FairTax (HR 25 in the US House and S 25 in the US Senate) is a federal retail sales tax that replaces the entire federal income and Social Security tax systems, including personal, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security/Medicare, self-employment, and corporate taxes. The FairTax allows Americans to keep 100 percent of their paychecks (minus any state income taxes), ends corporate taxes and compliance costs hidden in the retail cost of goods and services, and fully funds the federal government while fulfilling the promise of Social Security and Medicare.

More FairTax benefits:

No tax on used goods. No tax on business inputs. With the FairTax, if you choose to buy any new good or service, the sales tax is charged just as state sales taxes are computed today. If you choose to buy used goods - used car, used home, used appliances - you do not pay the FairTax. If, as a business owner or farmer, you buy something for strictly business purposes (not for personal consumption), you pay no FairTax. So, in deciding what to buy, you get to choose whether or not you pay the FairTax.

No federal sales tax up to the poverty level means progressivity like today's tax system. Furthermore, to ensure that no American pays tax on necessities, the FairTax plan provides a prepaid, monthly rebate for every registered household to cover the consumption tax spent on necessities up to the federal poverty level. This, along with several other features, is how the FairTax completely untaxes the poor, lowers the tax burden on most, while making the overall rate progressive. However, the FairTax is progressive based on lifestyle/spending choices, rather than simply punishing those taxpayers who are successful. Do you see how much freer life is with the FairTax instead of the income tax?

All Americans take home their whole paychecks. Not only do more Americans have jobs, but they also take home 100 percent of their paychecks (except where state income taxes apply). No federal income taxes or payroll taxes are withheld from paychecks, pensions, or Social Security checks. Retail prices no longer hide corporate taxes or their compliance costs, which drive up costs for those who can least afford to pay. Did you know that hidden income taxes and the cost of complying with them currently make up 20 to 30 percent of all retail prices? It's true. According to Dr. Dale Jorgenson of Harvard University, hidden income taxes are passed on to the consumer in the form of higher prices - from 20 to 30 percent higher than they would otherwise be - for everything you buy.

Tax criminals - don't make criminals out of honest taxpayers. Today, the IRS admits to 25 percent non-compliance with the code. However, this does not take into account the criminal/drug/porn economy, which conservative estimates put at one trillion dollars of untaxed activity. The FairTax taxes those engaged in the underground economy capturing their income at the cash register. The substantial decrease in points of compliance - from every wage earner, investor, and retiree, down to only retailers - also allows enforcement to concentrate on following the money to criminal activity, rather than making potential criminals out of every taxpayer struggling to decipher the code.

The income tax exports our jobs, rather than our products. The FairTax brings jobs home. Most importantly, U.S. exports are not burdened by the FairTax, as they are with the current income tax. So the FairTax allows U.S. exports to sell overseas for prices 22 percent lower, on average, than they do now, with similar profit margins. Lower prices sharply increase demand for U.S. exports, thereby increasing job creation in U.S. manufacturing sectors. At home, foreign imports are subject to the same FairTax rate as domestically produced goods. Not only does the FairTax put U.S. products sold here on the same tax footing as foreign imports, but the dramatic lowering of compliance costs in comparison to other countries' value-added taxes also gives U.S. products a definitive pricing advantage which foreign tax systems cannot match.

YOU are in charge! The FairTax moves us from a system that taxes what we earn to a system that taxes what we spend. Under the FairTax, you control your tax liability, not the government. The FairTax puts "we the people" in charge of our money, and puts us all on the path to economic freedom!

To enact the FairTax and unleash the full economic potential of the U.S., we must apply Vocal and Persistent pressure on Congress each week.

Email, call or fax your members of Congress today. Send them this simple message: "Please support replacing the federal income tax code and become a co-sponsor of HR 25 or S 25, the FairTax."


TOPICS: Heated Discussion
KEYWORDS: economy; fair; fairtax; tax
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To: pigdog; ancient_geezer
Very clear ... thank, Geez! Didn't we once discuss this in the ancient past when the anti-FairTax crowd was trying to say that government should not be taxed? Now, seemingly, they agree that it IS rightfully taxed.
As usual with an AFT rebuttal, they don't rebut the claim made. The point the JCT was making in their letter wasn't whether government would be taxed or not, just that it would require more revenue to pay the tax! The AFT's pathetic "rebuttal" fails to address this.
481 posted on 04/09/2006 1:41:53 PM PDT by Your Nightmare
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To: Your Nightmare

And I'll bet you'd like to post all of the letter in question so we can all see what he said in its complete context - or should we just believe you???


482 posted on 04/09/2006 3:04:52 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: eskimo

That's simply a bunch of gibberish.


483 posted on 04/09/2006 3:06:22 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: Zon

You - if you've seen #476 you'll see your observation about the similarity to domestic help is a good parallel.


484 posted on 04/09/2006 3:16:49 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: pigdog
And I'll bet you'd like to post all of the letter in question so we can all see what he said in its complete context - or should we just believe you???
I'll see if I can find it, but it's interesting that the AFT produced a 40 page rebuttal to the letter but chose not to post the letter itself so we could see what he said in complete context. I guess we should just believe them.
485 posted on 04/09/2006 3:33:15 PM PDT by Your Nightmare
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To: pigdog

I was just trying to say it in a way I thought you would understand.


486 posted on 04/09/2006 3:38:13 PM PDT by eskimo (Political groupies - rabid defenders of the indefensible.)
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To: Always Right
I won't waste my time going after each of your erroneous observations in this particular post except to cite a couple as examples of how careles you are with the truth (despite your screenname):

You claimed WRT my post:

"pigdog post 310: "Nonsense, Finial. You've had it pointed out several times that the prebate is not a "guarantee" of anything, but is a refund of part of the taxes you'll have paid. Just like your April 15 tax refund presently." "

your response:

"A person/family qualifies for a prebate by being a citizen and applying. To say that it is a refund for taxes you'll have to pay is a lie. You get it no matter if you pay taxes or not. "

First of all, the qualification for the prebate is not being a citizen and applying but being a lawful resident and having a valid SSN. And it's no lie that it's a refund of taxes - that's where the money comes from; taxes. I doubt that there will be a single person who "pays no taxes" but you're welcome to think that if it pleases you.

Next, we see:

"pigdog post 317: Almost entirely rong Rightie. Savings are not taxed by the FairTax - consumption spending (or some part of it since not everything is taxed) is taxed. Savings & any earnings thereof remain untaxed. At present, whenever you buy something using tax or untaxed savings you still get nicked with the taxes embedded in prices since there's no free lunch, poddner!"

followed by:

"pigdog making false claims. No where did I ever say savings are taxed by the FairTax."

... nor did I claim that you said such a thing, but I don't hesitate to point out that in your post #69 which is the subject of this bit of insight, you said:

"... no savings are not taxed, earning on savings are taxed .... "

... and you show no gratitude for my correcting your foolish error shown in the two bolded portions just above - tsk, tsk!.

487 posted on 04/09/2006 3:47:45 PM PDT by pigdog
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Comment #488 Removed by Moderator

To: GSlob

Ah, but it's no fraud but a real, live and very heavily investigated and researched piece of tax legislation.

Actually your post #469 doesn't cover what you had in the Private Mail, but I'll respond to #469.

You seem to be saying that since the FairTax is revenue neutral nothing would change since the amount of goods on the market and the money supply would remain the same. Certainly that is not the case since prices to the consumer would drop and the consumer would have more money in hand to buy things so that even with the FairTax prices would be somewhat less than before.

This benefit would trigger increased consumption rather than less and people using some mix of already taxed funds along with earnings or other income for consumption would pay something less than the full 23% since even consuming at twice the poverty level the effective FairTax rate is about 12% or so.

The income tax isn't equivalent to 70-80% of the FairTax but 100% of it. that's why it's referred to as revenue neutral - designed to raise the same amount as the present income tax system.

If under the present tax system you spend already taxed money (or even untaxed money) you'll be in effect paying a tax in the form of prices artificially inflated by the costs of the business income tax and its costs that become embedded into prices. With the FairTax, these hidden tax components are removed and prices to the consumer will decline.

I believe you're mistaken, too, about the overall economic effects of the FairTax since with the increased economic activity brought about by the FairTax, price levels overall will decline due to competitive pressures and increased captital investments. Interest rates, too, will decline.

So let's hope for your sake that you have multiples of hundreds of millions to "contribute to tying it down in courts" - that's a fine Democratic solution to anything you don't like. We see it all the time.


489 posted on 04/09/2006 4:17:10 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: pigdog
And it's no lie that it's a refund of taxes - that's where the money comes from; taxes.

By that asnine logic, a welfare queen's welfare check is a 'refund' since it came from my taxes. You are a piece of work pigdog. Clinton had more shame than you. A person does not have to pay a dime of taxes to qualify for your precious pre-bate check. Only pigdog could convolute that into being a refund.

490 posted on 04/09/2006 4:20:27 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: pigdog

LOL, i see you went crying to the moderators again. You are too funny. You lie through you teeth call my posts 'foolish', then cry to the moderators when I call you out. You are the biggest mule on this forum.


491 posted on 04/09/2006 4:24:19 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: Always Right

That's not the same thing at all RIghtie. The hypothetical welfare queen to who you refer has undoubtedly never paid taxes for one or more years and probably will not do so next year and beyond.

With the FairTax, every taxable item one buys pays a bit of tax and most people - by far - do not live below the FairTax poverty amount when it comes to spending. Do you have some study to present that shows the percent of people who consume nothing - or at least nothing taxable under the FairTax???

If so, please present it.


492 posted on 04/09/2006 4:41:56 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: eskimo

You think there's such a thing as understandable gibberish???


493 posted on 04/09/2006 4:46:51 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: pigdog
Do you have some study to present that shows the percent of people who consume nothing - or at least nothing taxable under the FairTax???

Do I need to study to say the sky is blue and the grass is green. There are millions of people who earn below the poverty line and thus will spend much less on taxes than the prebate pays them. There will a million or so of people living on the street who the prebate will be their biggest source of income. It is pure welfare to these people, not a refund of taxes.

494 posted on 04/09/2006 4:49:34 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: Your Nightmare

Your comments seem to indicate that you have or had a copy of it so presumable you'll put it up for viewing.

Actually most of us would believe them rather than you if it comes to that Nightie. Their track record for veracity is much better than yours.


495 posted on 04/09/2006 4:52:49 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: pigdog
How many more times are you going to shamelessly lie???  Is the fairtax so important to you, you don't care???

pigdog post 317: Almost entirely rong Rightie. Savings are not taxed by the FairTax

Always Right post 456:  "pigdog making false claims. No where did I ever say savings are taxed by the FairTax."

pigdog post 487:  "... nor did I claim that you said such a thing, but I don't hesitate to point out that in your post #69 which is the subject of this bit of insight, you said: "

Who was that in post 317????  Did someone rob your screen name and accuse me of being wrong about savings not being taxes by the fairtax????  You then continue you lying ways by taking a quote about I made about the income tax and falsely quote it as if I was talking about the fairtax.  You lie, lie some more, then lie some more to cover it up.

496 posted on 04/09/2006 4:57:35 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: pigdog
Actually most of us would believe them rather than you if it comes to that Nightie. Their track record for veracity is much better than yours.

Pigdog attacking someones 'track record' about believability is like Clinton giving a talk about being a faithful husband.

497 posted on 04/09/2006 5:01:37 PM PDT by Always Right
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To: Always Right

I'd be glad to see any definite information you might have on the homeless and their income/spending habits. We're not talking about the sky and the grass Rightie, but people.

You say "millions" - how many "millions"??? What is their income? How much do they spend now? Where does the money come from? Do the live singly or in pairs? How many have a permanent residence? How many are illegal aliens?

I'm sure any studies you might have will answer these and other questions. I'm afraid your just claiming it won't do the job. And I'd point out that living below the poverty line still has that person paying taxes on each and every taxable thing purchased. That's still more of a contribution to tax revenues than they make at present - by a good deal undoubtedly.


498 posted on 04/09/2006 5:01:44 PM PDT by pigdog
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To: Your Nightmare; Zon
This from the chest pounding Fairtax knowitall:

"ancient_geezer, Principled, you two understand legalese better than I. It would be unwise for me to take just YN or ll's word on it. I'd like to here from the pro side not just the antis."

Who do you think explained it to them?
LOL!

"legalese" like "any government" and "tax on wages" can really make the little head spin. Some people aren't bright enough to figure out who's lying to them, they'd rather ask the 'you lie and I'll swear to it' lemmings in hopes of getting the answer they want to hear.

499 posted on 04/09/2006 5:03:48 PM PDT by lewislynn (Fairtax = lies, hope, wishful thinking, conjecture and lies. (no it's not a mistake)
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To: Always Right
Sorry, Rightie, but I can't let that latest bit of "information" from you get past either.

The post you responded to in your #69 (talking about the income tax) said:

"Most savings are subject to the present tax system with taxes due each year. With the FairTax savings are not taxed"

and your response was:

"Ummm, no savings are not taxed, earning on savings are taxed."

Clearly you were responding to the phrase about the FairTax not taxing savings with your claim that instead "earnings on savings are taxed. You were not talking about the income tax. Just anoher example of one your artifices. And now you're compounding your own problem.

500 posted on 04/09/2006 5:07:27 PM PDT by pigdog
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