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Why The Fair Tax WILL Work, A response to Bartlett's Unfair Attack on the FairTax
www.FairTax.org and Tax Notes ^ | January 15, 2008 | Laurence J. Kotlikoff

Posted on 02/17/2008 7:34:33 AM PST by DivaDelMar

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To: xcamel
You may be an income tax lover if you:

1. …believe that taxing the creation of wealth is better for the economy than taxing the wealth when it is spent.

2. …believe that returning people’s tax payments to them is welfare.

3. …have no problem with a tax code that is wordier than the Bible.

4. …believe the IRS is a good department and does a good job.

5. …believe that the worst thing you could do is tax the wealth of old geezers who are living off of the sweat of the younger workforce.

6. …love to tell everyone you see that the FairTax was created by Scientologists.

7. …believe that what Bruce Bartlett says is the gospel and that scores of other credentialed economists are only paid shills.

8. …have a habit of going to online chat rooms and posting insults about the “Fairy Taxers.”

9. …think that calculating a tax the same way as the tax it is replacing is dishonest.

10. …think the economy has always been fine under the income tax.

11. …call the FairTax a “cult” because you can’t think of anything else to say.

12. …believe that cutting one tax by 25% and raising another by the same amount is inflationary.

13. …think inflation is caused by high taxes.

14. …think Milton Friedman is an idiot.

15. …have a soft spot in your heart for European style VAT’s.

16. …wrote the ten planks to the Communist Manifesto.

17. …think the prebate is Marxist but not the Communist Manifesto.

18. …sell some sort of tax advantaged product.

19. …claim you clamor for tax reform but have no earthly idea how to do that.

20. ...howl in outrage when the BATF violates the 2nd Amendment but have no concerns when the IRS violates the 1st, 4th and 5th Amendments.

81 posted on 02/17/2008 1:21:25 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: groanup

Proves you’re only here to disrupt the thread (as usual). Big whoop.


82 posted on 02/17/2008 1:26:40 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: groanup
21....Believe prices would not adjust downward in response to a FairTax because the free market doesn’t work and Adam Smith’s invisible hand is a myth.
83 posted on 02/17/2008 1:30:07 PM PST by Cracker Jack (If it weren't for the democrats, republicans would be the worst thing in Washington.)
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To: Buckeye Battle Cry

You misunderstand the mechanics of the VAT. The value-added tax (VAT) is a multi-stage levy on the value added in each stage of the production and distribution of a commodity or service, from the-earliest stage, up through-the final retail sale. It is not simply collected at the final point of sale. As it is inflicted, tt becomes a component of PRICE—embedded as the Corporate Net Income Tax is embedded, so the consumer utlimately pays it. A VAT is collected and inflicted at every stage of production.

There is no comparison between a consumption based tax that is inflicted at the point of final sale and a European style VAT, none.


84 posted on 02/17/2008 1:36:24 PM PST by DivaDelMar (CRAm member-- (Conservative Republicans Against mcCain) Think you're entitled to my vote? CRAm It!!!)
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To: Cracker Jack

Good one. Freepmail me with anymore you have.


85 posted on 02/17/2008 1:37:50 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: DivaDelMar
What Bartlett failed to disclose is his personal interest in maintaining the status quo.

Actually, that pretty well describes any "conservative", on just about any topic.

So Bartlett's comments are rendered untrue and invalid because Bartlett presumably has a vested interest in the way things are done now?

Everyone has a vested interest in something or other..... including the Fair Tax, in some cases.

So.....what and where is your vested interest?

Or Kotlikoff's, who has been advocating breathlessly for the Fair Tax for years? Seems like pride can be a "vested interest", too -- pride, rep, chops, and the possibility of further consulting work down the line.

Oh, we are just all corrupt and venal -- to venal to have an opinion worth ventilating, or even listening to!!!

lol

86 posted on 02/17/2008 1:39:33 PM PST by lentulusgracchus ("Whatever." -- sinkspur)
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To: xcamel
Proves you’re only here to disrupt the thread (as usual). Big whoop.

What do you see as advantages that the income tax has over a consumption tax?

87 posted on 02/17/2008 1:40:14 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: lentulusgracchus
Or Kotlikoff's, who has been advocating breathlessly for the Fair Tax for years? Seems like pride can be a "vested interest", too -- pride, rep, chops, and the possibility of further consulting work down the line.

There are a lot of economists who advocate for the FairTax. It has somehow slipped my attention that there are those that advocate against it.

88 posted on 02/17/2008 1:44:02 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: lentulusgracchus
FT’s claim never to have a dog in the hunt, except for that little thing about $20 million spent on “research” on “how to sell a better brand of snake oil”

In past lives they sold the whole prohibition scam to America - we all know how long that lasted..

89 posted on 02/17/2008 1:48:26 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: mad_as_he$$

I’ve never suggested that nominal prices will remain constant. NEVER. I have consistently maintained that purchasing power will remain constant when the Fair Tax is implemented. The Fair Tax changes the point at which the tax is collected. To the extent that your purchases exceed the poverty level, everyone will pay tax out of their gross pay. The question, properly framed, compares purchasing power pre-Fair Tax and purchasing power post-Fair Tax.

Removing the embedded taxes cannot possibly raise the nominal pre-tax price of an item. Your suggestion that “Many things will actually cost more per item after you account for your dreaded embedded taxes. So MANY things will now cost 1 - 10 % more after removing the embedded taxes than they do now” is nothing short of absurd. Simply removing a component of cost cannot increase the nominal price of the item.

If suppliers and retailers did not reduce prices in response to market forces, Wal-Mart would be a failure.


90 posted on 02/17/2008 1:52:03 PM PST by DivaDelMar (CRAm member-- (Conservative Republicans Against mcCain) Think you're entitled to my vote? CRAm It!!!)
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To: lentulusgracchus; groanup

The rest of the lettered economists haven’t caught their breath from laughing so hard yet. Give them time...


91 posted on 02/17/2008 1:52:15 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: xcamel
Give them time...

We have all been giving you an enormous amount of time to answer some very simple questions about your position on the income tax vs. the FT. How much more time should we give you?

92 posted on 02/17/2008 2:00:17 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: johnthebaptistmoore
The next question is how does anybody succeed in getting John McCain to frequently talk in detail about the Fair Tax? Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton don’t want anything to do with either tax cutting or with any kind of tax reforms such as the Flat Tax and the Fair Tax. John McCain also doesn’t seem to be interested at all in the Fair Tax!

Congress does not dictate to the people what is of interest to the nation. The people are the government and dictate to Congress what they deem important. The 73 signers of The Fair Tax are a direct correlation to the growing grassroots Fair Tax movement because Congress critters are feeling increasing pressure to support The Fair Tax or risk losing their jobs.
93 posted on 02/17/2008 2:03:05 PM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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To: groanup

Asked and answered many times.

You just can’t hear the answer.

(”we” bing the voices in your head again?)


94 posted on 02/17/2008 2:05:13 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: xcamel
Asked and answered many times.

Refresh my memory. Do you favor maintaining the income tax and the IRS as they currently exist? Everyone on this thread would like to see how you originally answered that question.

95 posted on 02/17/2008 2:12:29 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: groanup

please put another quarter in the slot and call someone who cares..


96 posted on 02/17/2008 2:19:01 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: xcamel

IOW, you don’t want to discuss the topic, you simply want to disrupt, hurt insults, hold hands with your comrades and make yourself look foolish. Is that about it?


97 posted on 02/17/2008 2:24:51 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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To: groanup
IOW, you don’t seem to have any “other words” (except for asking the same stupid irrelevant question over and over and over again)
98 posted on 02/17/2008 2:27:09 PM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: DivaDelMar
" I have consistently maintained that purchasing power will remain constant when the Fair Tax is implemented."

There's your problem. If food is one of your major expenditures then the FT will hit you harder than a household with no kids - especially in a Sate that does not now sales tax unprepared food. Even if you account for the prebate. A mother of 4 teenage boys will never buy into the FT since she does not want a adjusted gap increase in her food costs. There is no way the purchasing power will stay the same. Virtually everyone is different.

It took years for Wal-Mart to break into the food industry. Why? Because of the way food is distributed. They have taken lower margins on food than a traditional GS and some suppliers have stopped doing business with them. Their ability to buy meat has been hurt because of their practices - for example.

99 posted on 02/17/2008 3:02:33 PM PST by mad_as_he$$ (John McCain - The Manchurian Candidate? http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm)
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To: xcamel
except for asking the same stupid irrelevant question over and over and over again)

If it was irrelevant you wouldn't make such a big deal out of claiming you have answered it. You haven't. I don't expect you ever will.

Do you have a list of economists who have stated their opposition to the FairTax?

You once claimed that if there were 75 who lent their names to it then there were 75,000 who thought it was stupid. You subsequently claimed that there were a total of 45,000 economists in America. Which do you want to defend?

Do you support maintaining the income tax and the IRS as they currently exist?

Frankly, you have been all over the place on this. But the one thing you have never done is answer the question directly.

Why do you think that maintaining the income tax would be better for America than adopting the FairTax?

The only answer you have ever given to this question is denying you support the income tax. But asked what you would support in place of it you claim you have answered that many times. You haven't.

100 posted on 02/17/2008 3:03:39 PM PST by groanup (Don't let the bastards get you down.)
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