Posted on 12/02/2007 2:37:44 PM PST by netvictory
Neal Boortz said that John Linder talked to a major retailer executive (probably Wall Mart), and that executive promised that on the day the Fairtax goes into place they will have a 22% sale on everything in the store.
That means you will keep you entire paycheck with the Fairtax and spend less of it with a prebate to boot (Family of four $528)
Today at Wal Mart if you buy $100 of products:
$100 00 Products
$ 7.30 Kansas Sales Tax
$107.300 Total
Under the Fairtax Sale the same amount of products would cost $78.
$78.00
$ 5.69 KS Sales Tax
$23.4 Fairtax Sales Tax
$107.09 Total
It’s about time for all the Fair Tax naysayers to start jumping up and down, again...
The long and the short of it is this: What we have in place now is subject to the capricious nature of those elected (ostensibly) to serve us. The two most functional alternatives are a flat rate income tax, or a national sales tax (the Fair Tax). PROPERLY ENACTED, the Fair Tax is the better solution because it allows individuals to choose to pay taxes (buy new goods/services) or not. Plus it brings into the paying fold most of those who, at present, don’t declare their income and don’t pay taxes on it.
It’s time.
Do we really have to go through this again?
Listen, one of the provisions of the FairTax bill requires that States initiate their own FairTax. So, the State Sales tax, patterned on the NRST would probably be significantly more than the current rate. It would have to replace State income tax, and a few other State taxes.
And the FairTax on $78 is closer to 29% of $78. You have the amount correct, but not the percentage.
FairTax proponents continue to misrepresent the percentage, insisting on calling it a 22% sales tax. Then when anyone brings up the discrepancy, they whine about it replacing the income tax, so it should be tax inclusive. But it would BE a sales tax, so it should be classified as tax exclusive, which results in a higher percentage number.
OK - this is not a flame, and with some good answers, you can win some converts, I’m sure, incl me.
I would love to see this work, BUT:
1) What happens to people who have saved a lot of money, and already paid tax on it? It seems they would pay taxes again if they spend it. Is there a provision to compensate those with accumulated wealth?
2) If we enact this 29.87% tax (and, no, it’s not 23%, and any attempts to say otherwise will lose credibility for you), won’t that discourage tourists from spending here, and encourage US citizens to shop elsewhere (ie, border towns, foreign Internet sites, etc)?
Here’s your chance!
Sure, but only if they cut all their employees pay 22%, or make it only a 3 day sale, as a gimmick.
Whether tourists spend money in United States probably would have to do more with the value of their currency against the dollar.
One of the promises of the FairTax is that goods would cost less on the manufacturing end as there would not be a tax on them.
Now I don’t believe for one second that companies will actually reduce the cost of goods to compensate. If they do it will be as mentioned above as a gimmick 3-day sale, but normally they’ll take the difference themselves. Because of that products will still cost the same to the end user with the 20 to 25% sales tax tacked on to the back end.
Whatever it is, it's infinitely better than what's in place right now. You can always adjust the rate to a revenue neutral number. What's attractive is that it's easily understood and it gets rid of the IRS and the army of accountants that it takes to figure out the thousands of loopholes in the current scheme.
Walmart offered the Tank Engine playhut for $10 in an after Thanksgiving sale, which is almost 50 percent off the regular sale price.
Well, you have a point there! But accountants are people, too! (I think).
Than you don't believe in the free market and market forces. In a free market, ALL prices are subject to those market forces. If you don't believe this is the case, than why don't they raise their prices higher than they are now?
NONSENSE!
A good deal of that will move to the internet or out of state purchases.
To argue “neutrality” makes about as much sense as when a Democrat says a tax cut “costs” too much.
If you want a more accurate picture of the future fiasco of the Fair Tax Scam just look at the luxury tax of 1991. It was also supposed to be “neutral” as the taxscammers claim. The loss would be ofset by the gains and eventual future earnings. Instead it just KILLED all sales and put people out of work.
This also does not take into account state income and sales taxes. (nor does it account for the inflationary aspects of the flat tax scam’s sales tax aspects)
This example has all the credibility of a used car sale. It
[One of the promises of the FairTax is that goods would cost less on the manufacturing end as there would not be a tax on them.]
So you don’t believe that a business would reduce their prices to obtain a competitive advantage? You have no clue about business.
Doesn’t matter what they call the government agency that Congress assigns to make sure all tax cheaters are under their thumb. The guvmint will assume that many people will try to cheat in order to save 29% of their spending money, and there’s always the business owners who the guvmint will assume are trying to cheat on the amount they send in every month.
No, we’ll still have a bureau that assumes we’re all trying the cheat. And they will have enforcement powers.
I would be $1,000,000 it wasn't Wal-mart.
They are paying the embedded Tax right now. They spend the $100 that includes the embedded Tax and then they pay the regular sales tax.
Under the Fair Tax the embedded Tax goes away and then they pay the Fair Tax on items purchased. Without splitting hairs on the exact cents - the individual pays about the same out of pocket for the item.
That’s the free market. Amazing how it works!
The FairTax is a FEDERAL retail sales tax. It’s broken out on the receipt by itself.
States can still charge sales tax, but it’s not going to be all lumped together. The blindness of our current method of taxation will be eliminated. That’s the point of the FairTax.
No, it's correct.
Do we really have to go through this again? Figure it inclusively or exclusively, and the percentage changes. The bottom line amount is what's important, NOT THE PERCENTAGE. Play with words and semantics all day long, but if you compare our current system with the Fair Tax and figure it the same way, you get 22%.
1> People who saved a lot of money will pay embedded taxes when they spend it anyway- about 22% as a matter of fact.
2>Please- the 22% vs 29% is getting really old. If you can’t figure out the basic math, trust those of us who can. It’s the same amount of pennies on the dollar when you buy something, just a different ratio.
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