[Man50D]

The Senate version is S.25 not S.1493. Fair Tax ping!

[digger48]

The problem with a Fair Tax is....Congress will no longer be able to punish and reward particular behavior with the Tax Code.

At least, it's the problem as THEY see it.

[Phantom Lord]

I have long contended and still do to this day that the quickest and easiest way to serious and meaningful tax reform is to eliminate withholding.

Make people actually write a check every quarter for what they owe (income and FICA) and reform will quickly follow.

Withholding has created an illusion for most people that they pay little or no taxes.

A quick little experiment you can do is ask people what they earn. The bulk will tell you their "take home." And every April ask people how much they paid in taxes this year and the answer will often be "I got money back!"

[Bernard]

Most citizens don't realize that with our present system, corporations don't effectively pay income taxes-only consumers do

Corporations don't pay any tax; consumers do. Unless the corporation loses money, every cost a corporation has gets passed to its customers. If a corporation does not make money, eventually it goes out of business.

PS: The only Fair Tax is the tax that taxes you and not me. Everything else is a detail.

[xcamel]

ultimate oxymoron alert

[upchuck]

From the article:

... anyone who believes a politician goes to Washington simply from a sense of civic duty and public service is listening to the tooth fairy, and it's becoming increasingly apparent to the American taxpaying public how corrupt our system has become. Yes, there are good men in Washington, but they can be counted almost on the fingers of both hands. One of them is John Linder, who sponsored this bill in the Senate from the state of Georgia.

Well said. Except John Linder is a Representative, not a Senator.

FWIW, the corresponding Senate bill, S1493, was introduced by Sen Saxby Chambliss who is also from Georgia.

This article fails to address the strategies needed to get past the lobbyists, tax accountants and tax lawyers who will fight this tooth and nail. Unfortunately, these three groups have outsized influence on members of Congress.

[ancient_geezer]

A Taxreform ping for you all.

Unfortunately the author of this piece has incorporated a few errors in their presentation including the bill number in the Senate (actually S.25, not S.1493) and in over estimating the amount prices will probably drop by (which should be in a range of somewhere between 9 and 15% not the 20% or more indicated by the author.)

On balance article appears to provide a reasonable overview of the provisions of the FairTax act itself.

If anyone would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all federal income, SS/Medicare payroll, and gift/estate taxes outright replacing them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.

H.R.25,S.25
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information:

• AllTheWeb search: "national sales tax" OR "national retail sales tax" OR "fairtax"

[FreeKeys]

Obligatory  FairTax  Babes  Photo

[balrog666]

Would a 30% federal sales tax cause a depression?

Does the FairTax "prebate" constitute the largest welfare program in history, effectively putting every man, woman, and child in the USA on the dole?

Will the FairTax result in both a federal sales tax *AND* a federal income tax because it doesn't repeal the 16th Amendment to the US Constitution?

Yes, yes, and yes.

[JSteff]

"Elimination Of The IRS Is The Only True Tax Reform Proposal For America."

Nothing will happen until elimination of with holding. The average American needs to write a large check out just one or two years and then they will accept any type of tax form that is logically presented to them.