“You say you have a problem with the FairTax, but your problem seems to be really with legislators who will abuse any tax system. It is up to the voters to put a stop to it.”
1. I have a problem with ALL tax systems.
2. This is what will happen-——
If the Fair Tax (or something like it) is passed: (1) the rates will continuously rise; (2) The electorate won’t stop it, nor turn congress out, because by that time the majority of the electorate will consist of alien residents who grew up on socialism or under other dictatorships and native born, college-brainwashed progressives.
(3) The government (sliding into Marxism as it now is) will begin creating special grocery outlets or depots where the “poor,” “underprivileged,” and minorities will not have to pay the “Fair” Tax; the rest of us will have to pay, and at a higher rate each month. These kinds of food depots for oils, grains, eggs, and many staples, were present in China (until about 1993), and they were also part of the Soviet system. This is also a way to control the movement of the population, just as the “secure driver licenses” in various states are intended to do.
“Having a transparent tax system would help, which is a good reason to like the Fair Tax.”
What I pay in taxes is perfectly transparent to me. I don’t understand the transparency argument. Do you mean that you don’t see each pay period how much government is taking from your pay check? It’s not transparent to you? Who doesn’t receive a stub with an income tax and FICA report on it?
” . . . how does that relate to the topic of this thread?
The topic of the thread is to teach a lesson, by using the Social Security System, how that once Government creates or adopts a program, it gets distorted, twisted, and abused.
The same will happen to the Fair Tax, and so I am using it as an illustration of a potential future tax scheme to which the same lesson should apply. That’s how it relates.
Think of ANY — ANY — bar none — tax scheme you can conceive, this federal government is going to distort it.
Far too many people can't see beyond their tax refund and they have no understanding of what they actually pay. This current system has too many hidden taxes and compliance costs and is way too complex. I know this from my experience as a CPA and tax accountant.
If the Fair Tax (or something like it) is passed:
I pretty much agree with what you say about how legislators can and will abuse any tax scheme. In particular, the three reasons you give. i.e., continual rising rates, inaction by the electorate, and government cronyism, can corrupt any tax scheme. I just wonder why you singled out the FairTax in Post 12 since all tax schemes are subject to the same kinds of abuses.
It was doomed from the start.
Ida May Fuller worked for three years under the Social Security program. The accumulated taxes on her salary during those three years was a total of $24.75. Her initial monthly check was $22.54. During her lifetime she collected a total of $22,888.92 in Social Security benefits.