According to the President's Tax Panel report, taxpayers in the second, third and forth quintile pay significantly less in taxes under the current income tax system (benefit) than they would under the so-called FairTax. However, taxpayers in the first and fifth quintile pay less under the FairTax.
It is probably just a coincidence that those in the fifth quintile have their share of taxes reduced by nearly 20% and the three men who came up with the scheme, and each put up $1.3 million on their own money to get the FairTax ball rolling happen to belong to the quintile that benefits most. No doubt it is insignificant that studies supporting FairTax claims were commissioned and paid for by the FairTax organization.
Pigdog asks us to believe that every economist and every study that quarrels with FairTax claims has an interest in maintaining the status quo (income tax), but that these three very wealthy guys have only only our best interests and the best interests of our nation at heart. Thomas Jefferson said, "Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains."
But as pigdog says, if your the lucky ducky in the 25th percentile that sees his share of the tax burden increase by 42% or in the 50th percentile with a 36% increase, it'll be too late, there is no going back. The FairTaxers and their stooges will have accomplished their mission.
They spent $20 million for their studies, cherry-picked the results, misrepresented those results, came up with a focus-group tested name and sales plan, and are still trying to organize a top-down "grass-roots" movement focusing on labor unions... what a joke.
Yes. Those three men were afraid that the Social Security Tax would follow where the Medicare Tax has already gone and be levied on all income. And with good reason.
No doubt you noted that the Tax Panel said their studies show middle-income Americans will pay 7 percent more in overall taxes, while those earning at least $200,000 a year will pay 7 percent less.
In fact here's how far out of whack the Tax Panel's report really was.
In fact with repeated numerical examples on these threads we've shown that almost all taxpayers in all quintiles benefit under the FairTax when compared with their burden under the income tax. Your attempt at trying to stir up class envy with the "fat cat" rhetoric shows how desperate all of you are becoming. The lower earning taxpayers benefit more, if anything, under the FairTax.
You're more than welcome to put up your own set of verifiable numbers using recognized sources to show that the income tax benefits more taxpayers that does the Fairtax ... step right up and do it.
SHOW US THE MONEY!!!