Posted on 08/26/2004 11:05:33 PM PDT by n-tres-ted
"I wonder how much the IRS costs?"
It's in the neighborhood of $10 Bill/year. That's actually small potatoes compared to the cost savings of compliance costs of businesses and individuals .... which runs in the hundreds of billions of $$$.
how much are prices inflated by the costs of our tax system - and how does wage reduction factor into this? or does it? i'd like your opinion and any supporting information...
"Most of the studies I have read state that, due to exchange rate adjustments, any change in the trade balance would be very short term."
Care to post a link to some of those "studies"?
I tole YA!!! LOL!
"Many economists agree, in principle, that a sales tax is the best, or most fair, system to raise government funds but that does not mean they endorse the NRST in all its hideous particulars, including its 30-40% tax rate."
Does that mean that once Congressman Linder supports the 18 - 20% preliminary recalculation of the rate that the congressional research staff of the Library of Congress is working on, that those few economists who object to the rate will come along?
BTW, I would commend to your attention Dr. Donald Ratajczak's column in last week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He basically walked his readers through the rate and stated that Senator Kerry was wrong to attack the rate. Dr. Ratajczak, in addition to being a Democrat, is one of the most respected economists in the southeast. He also prefers a VAT to the FairTax, but views the FairTax as far better than the current system.
"Just like they are dreaming if they think the government will ever give up it's biggest source of power,,,the tax code."
You are forgetting the one source of power that trumps the tax code as a source of power - the ballot box.
If you have a cheaper way to produce an item, do you always sell it for less than your competitors? And just how much less?
Conversely, if your production process cost is higher than your competitors, say due to a bad union contract, you can't just raise your prices, can you?
"At what NRST rate would it not sound good to you? Where do you get off the bandwagon?"
Where's YOUR bandwagon to perpetuate the current abomination, YN? Is anyone on that bandwagon except you, Willie Green and your pseudonymns? Oh, almost forgot, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry, right?
If you're lucky or efficient, you make a profit and then that is taxed too.
i don't see how what you've said supports the idea that prices are independent of costs. the poster said prices were completely independent of all costs!
if costs didn't affect prices then all prices could be zero but companies could still pay costs. obviously can't be. i wish i could ignore my costs!!!!
i thought the poster was only indicating that tax costs did not affect price - but to my surprise he said prices are independent of ALL costs?!
"I suspect we would end up with the IRS merely having a different mission statement, ensuring that EVERY possible sale gets taxed, including the kids lemonade stand, your used car, and your spring garage sale."
Sales at the kids lemonade stand fall under the de minimis rule, used car and garage sales are exempt because used goods are not taxed under the FairTax. The principle is to tax once and only once.
Hell, no! They tend to think if 10% is good enough for God, it should be good enough for the government.
BTW, I would commend to your attention Dr. Donald Ratajczak's column in last week's Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He basically walked his readers through the rate and stated that Senator Kerry was wrong to attack the rate. Dr. Ratajczak, in addition to being a Democrat, is one of the most respected economists in the southeast. He also prefers a VAT to the FairTax, but views the FairTax as far better than the current system.
So post it. And, whatever he said, Kerry is a complete buffoon on all matters related to logic, economics, or public policy. If he said anything informative, somebody else wrote it for him.
And a VAT is incredibly counterproductive because it is a hidden and unattributed cost and is easily changed by law in the dead of night.
"There is no such thing as 'cascaded' corporate income taxes."
The fact that you don't understand it does not mean that it doesn't exist.
ok i thought yo were agreeing with the other poster-
but i see that yu recognize that costs affect price.
sorry- what i'm looking for is how much existing prices are inflated due to tax costs- some on this thread have said 22%... i'm looking for your opinion on that and would like supporting info or links...
"Corporate income taxes are NOT a cost."
Where in the world do you get such ridiculous notions? Can you cite any economist or reputable business scholar who holds that view?
That's not what it means. For example, I deal with chemical companies and they don't have fixed prices - they have salesmen whose job it is to gouge me for all they can whenever they can. However, they also build up inventory that must be moved and I have leverage for making large purchases and storing what I need as excess inventory. And then I can also play off companies against each other to get a lower price when I need a high volume. It's a lot like negotiating for a new car.
And, in fact, I can sometimes buy what I need below their cost, just like you can score a great deal on a new car when their lot starts overflowing at the end of the year.
Everything is governed by supply and demand and that never remains static.
"No. Price is determined by competitive supply and demand in the market."
So supply and demand exist independently of cost?
so costs do affect pricing - but not at a static level. of course.
the other poster said costs in no way affect price.
Cost is usually "a" factor in price. It is not the only factor and it is not necessarily the dominant factor. And, for large corporations, manufacturing cost may not even be a factor - warehousing, distribution, and pre-payment for display space may overwhelm the actual production cost to make it insignificant.
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