Tax reform ping!
I've been listening to Neal this morning and I heard him mention this. He's speaking with Sec of Defense Donald Rumsfeld right now.
The fastest and best way to eliminate ALL of that instantly is to eliminate the entire tax code as it exists now. Without question, the greatest amount of money and lobbying done in DC is in regardes to the tax code.
The idea is catching. Neal didn't even mention the bounce that putting billions of dollars now spend on income tax compliance and tax lawyers and tax accountants to more productive uses.
Let us pray for the elimination of the hated income and SS taxes.
I like it except for the rebate portion. Why bother adding an extra level of complexity and bureaucracy? Do like they do in Nevada--just don't tax the necessities of life like food and be done with it. It's that simple.
What a refreshing quote.
There are some pop-ups, but being able to listen to Neal is worth it.
Could someone please explain how the sales tax rebate would work? Would I be required to keep every single receipt I get? Just curious.
The fairness of a tax code should be judged on the ratio of compliance and enforcement costs to the amount of revunue raised. Unfair taxes, like the income and capital gains taxes, require enormous amounts of information to be collected for compliance and enforcement. This information is essential for politicians and lobbyists who want to use the power of government for personal vendettas or personal enrichment.
Paying for government with an excise tax on demand deposit (M1) account transactions at U.S. financial institutions only takes an account number and transaction amount for compliance and enforcement. For progressivity, those who don't pay income taxes now could legally avoid any tax by using cash or barter.
IIRC, a 3% M1 transaction tax would easily balance the budget while providing a permanent tax cut amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars because virtually all compliance and enforcement costs would be eliminated.
I've used this arguement for tax fairness several times to silence leftists promoting the income and capital gains taxes.
Would there be tax on home sales? Wouldn't the tax benefit for home ownership disapear?
Is the 23% number mentioned here revenue neutral with income tax and SS/medicare eliminated?
FairTax Ping!
Let's get the WH thinking about this:
Andy Card's office phone at the WH: 202 456-1111 (found several...this may be incorrect...if so, just call the main WH number and ask for his office)
E-mail: acard@who.eop.gov
General e-mail: feedback@who.eop.gov
Bush campaign chair and former deputy assistant to the President (don't know if his WH addy will still work, but might as well give it a shot): Ken_Mehlman@who.eop.gov
The guy replacing Ken as deputy assistant (he meets with the President OFTEN): Matt_Schlapp@who.eop.gov
Note: some of the who.eop.gov addresses have changed from thte Firstname_Lastname form to firstinitiallastname@who.eop.gov (such as Andy Card's).....so may have to try that if the underline form does not work.
Karl Rove (have not found an e-mail, though you can try the forms above):
phone: 202-456-2369
fax: 202-456-0191
I did find an e-mail for this person in Rove's office though, Dave Thomas:
davidthomas@who.eop.gov
Of course, there is the old standbys:
President@whitehouse.gov
vice.president@whitehouse.gov
Phone: (202) 456 1414
General WH fax: (202) 456-2461
Alternate fax: (202) 456-6538
The implementation of the Fair Tax would fail in short order if, as the question presupposes, the net effect on the poor would be the that they would be paying today's prices for a gallon of milk or a loaf of bread, plus a 23% sales tax.This sentance is misleading. It wouldn't be the price of a gallon of milk (whatever it ends up being) plus a 23% sales tax. It would be the price of a gallon of milk plus a 29.87% sales tax.
I'll accept nothing less!
Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to exempt the necessities - food, clothing, medicine, shelter, and tax the rest? Then you don't need to trck everyone's address or bank account to send monthly checks.
And with all the talking over this issue, why can't anyone come up with a reasonable explanation of what the embeeded tax is, and how high it is? Every article has new figures.
How is the embedded tax going to be completely dissolved as Boortz suggests?
And also, how would this tax system affect the overall tax revenue to the treasury?
For this reason alone the Dims will oppose the Fair Tax.
The Dims love the poor. That's why they work so hard to ensure they remain poor. If they managed to dig themselves out of poverty, the Dims wouldn't love them anymore.
Shalom.