[phil_will1]

"We'll get our jobs back when we switch to the FairTax, a national retail sales tax. The FairTax will lower the cost of exported goods and services by an average of 22%. Watch for new jobs in a booming economy."

Great post, Highcard. This article was great in that it took a topic that is dominating the news and connected it to tax policy - which noone else in the media is doing. In addition to creating price shifts that will make US goods more price competitive, both in the US and in international markets, it would also save tens of billions of $$$ in compliance costs. Talk about a BIG increase in productivity!!

In addition, by levying the sales tax on anything sold in this country, it would work like a tariff. However, unlike US goods which would see price declines because of the removal of the current system, imports would be higher priced on an after-tax basis.

[phil_will1]

To add a little to the last post, everyone concerned with this problem should realize that WE are handicapping ourselves with our current tax system. The FairTax would level the playing field by levying taxes on anything sold for consumption in this country, but not on US production exported. Exports would thus be tax-free and imported goods would have to bear a tax burden commensurate with domestically produced goods.

That is a system that is easily defensible to the WTO and our trading partners. Even though the FairTax would operate like a tariff, it would not precipitate a trade war as tariffs probably would.