Shalom Israel: Another major negative: all we need is for every American to get used to cashing government checks. 88
Zon: Most of it will be electronic transfer with few checks being cashed. IIRC, if the HCA prebate was eliminated the rate would drop from 23% to 17%. The reason the HCA prebate was included is so the FairTax is not regressive -- an overburden on persons and families living at or below the poverty level. 104 To: Zon
Most of it will be electronic transfer with few checks being cashed.104Shalom Israel: Way to miss the point completely! The last thing we need is for every American to get in the habit of expecting money from the government.
I didn't miss the point. I notice you omitted my explanation of why the HCA prebate is part of H.R.25. For all but a tiny fraction of the population (less than 1%) the HCA prebate will be money that they already paid to the government. The prebate is an advanced "refund" of the sales tax paid up to poverty level spending. Plus, the HCA prebate is distributed equally to every person, not according to income, age or special minority status etc., that is prevalent with the present tax system. Every person treated equally.
The interesting thing is that once people get the HCA prebate when they pay the fairtax/sales tax at the cash register they will perceive it as their hard-earned money they are parting with, not a government "check" because, you know what, it is their money. They government is only giving back (though in advance) what they already paid the government in the first place.
It's completely irrelevant: government checks are always bad. That includes tax refunds, for example. People are too ignorant to distinguish money they might legitimately be owed, and money they aren't owed. Observe that some people get tax refund checks that exceed their withholdings--yet those people are not correctly identified as the thieves they are.
Even if the "prebate" check were completely legitimate, which it isn't, it would still be bad. It sets the stage for poiltically popular efforts to increase the "prebate", until it equals a handout for the bottom third or half of Americans. After all, a government check is a government check, right?
For all but a tiny fraction of the population (less than 1%) the HCA prebate will be money that they already paid to the government.What's your source for that?
For all but a tiny fraction of the population (less than 1%) the HCA prebate will be money that they already paid to the government.1% of the population is 3 million people. 3 million people each receiving their $732 "prebate"(gag!) would be $2.2 BILLION dollars a year...Where would that extra welfare money come from?
The pre-bate is an advanced "re-fund" of the sales tax paid.I get the money I paid before I pay it...Pure idiocy!