National sales tax plan gathers steam

The Gwinnett Daily Post ^ | 11/21/2004 | Dave Williams

[Dick Bachert]

FRONT PAGE HEADLINE -- ABOVE THE FOLD -- IN SUNDAY GWINNETT DAILY POST!!

As blue is not my favorite complexion color, I will NOT hold my breath until it appears in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution (aka The Cox Fishwrapper).

[sarasotarepublican]

NO NATIONAL SALES TAX!!!

Flat tax only.

[GSlob]

IMHO, it is a very bad idea: national sales tax would subject all after-tax savings (including Roths) - quite a chunk of money - to a double taxation. Now you could take that [already taxed] money and spend it paying only local sales tax (or even avoid it by out-of-state shopping, or purchasing on Internet). Under new system that same money would be taxed again at something like 20% rate. The only honest way I see to avoid it would be to index up (by the percentage of the national sales taxation) all the eligible accounts at the transition time, but that would be inflationary.

[Major_Risktaker]

NO NATIONAL SALES TAX!!!

I agree!

A National Sales Tax is to much like Europe.

Let's call it a National Health Care Tax.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Sooy, no thanks. What we have now started off as a flat tax. The problem with income taxes is that you can hide it at multiple levels before passing the cost on to the consumer. For example, GM's income tax reutrn for a particular year was 53 feet high. Over 150,000 pages that cost millions and millions of dollars to produce and even more billions to comply with and pay. And guess who ultimately pays those billions, not the company but people who buy GM's cars and trucks.

[ARCADIA]

This issue is a complete loser. Why would conservatives endorse yet another national tax plan? Public support will end 60 seconds after they see the sales tax rate. It is fun to think about doing away with the IRS; and we should do our part to lighten up the tax code, but forget about a national sales tax. Even if you pass one to replace the IRS; there is nothing to keep an even harsher IRS^2 from poping back up almost immediately.

There is only one way to reduce the tax burden; stop spending!

[GmbyMan]

I am a huge proponent of the fair tax. Milton Friedman once wrote that an activity that is tax will decline and an activity that is subsidized will increase. By taxing consumption, we will see an increase in investment and saving. This, I believe, is a very positive effect of the tax.

Also, a tax like this will hit the idle rich in big way. Take someone like Teresa Heinz or Ariana Huffington who pay almost nothing in taxes. They will now pay a great deal more than Joe Six Pack does just because they love to buy things.

Also, a fair tax removes the need of people to pay high priced (and low priced) accountants. This very fact alone will flood the nation will money and disallow very rich people from truly avoiding the tax.

All this is great and would come to fruition, but having said that, I doubt anything like this gets passed in my lifetime. The blood letting that would occur in order to get something like this through congress and onto the President's desk is probably not something that most people want to endure.

[Blood of Tyrants]

I read that just keeping up with the incme tax and paying it cost taxpayers $200 BILLION each year.

[buffyt]

I want National Sales Tax instead of a Flat Tax because then there were no longer be an April 15
no more tax forms to fill out
no more of the government in our business, in our back pocket, in our face
No more Audits
no more IRS
Just simply pay the tax when you buy something
No more punishing us for savings

[Phocion]

I agree. If we implement a flat tax, it won't be long before we're right back to where we started, with Congressmen on both sides seeking and obtaining exemptions for their pet special interest groups and Dems using class warfare to make the code more "progressive".

[buffyt]

It would get rid of the income tax.

[weenie]

Where's the double taxation? Isn't this just a VAT? You are only taxed on what you spend, not on what you save.

[buffyt]

Can you imagine a paycheck with NO deductions taken out?

[weenie]

It would get rid of the income tax.

And the IRS, and every tax attorney, and every tax accountant, and save oountless hours on the part of citizens in preparing and worrying about taxes.

Something must be done and will be done...

[Phocion]

I sure can. I'm an advocate of the national sales tax, all the way. People don't even realize how much they pay in taxes. This puts it right in their faces. To raise taxes, Dems would have to explain to the public why they want the prices of milk and gas to go up.

[FairOpinion]

Looks like you are going to have a busy ping season. ;)

There is more and more discussion of this.

Maybe it actually has a chance.

[GSlob]

"Where's the double taxation? Isn't this just a VAT? You are only taxed on what you spend, not on what you save."
What I have managed to save from my paycheck under existing system has already been taxed through withholding. If I carry these savings (the only exceptions are regular pre-tax things like regular IRAs , 401s, 403s) under the new system, I would be hit with a new VAT on it.

[boris]

Studies have shown that whenever a sales tax approaches or exceeds 10%, a vast underground economy--based on barter and under-the-counter cash transactions--is stimulated, and the government ends up losing money.

Here in Lost Angeles, we already pay 8.75% sales tax. How much more would be added by the national sales tax?

--Boris

[boris]

“If you choose to buy a brand-new Cadillac, you’re going to pay a tax,” said Wright. “But if you buy a used one, you don’t pay a dime in tax.”

Define "new". Define "used". I can think of several dodges which would allow 'new' cars to be sold as 'used'...and not only cars.

--Boris

[ancient_geezer]

Geezzz, lay down for a nap, get up and another ping.

Never a lazy moment, guess it's time to crank my oxygen supply up a couple of notches to keep me awake. grrrmmbl grrrmmbl, jess ain't no rest for the wicked ;O)

 

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House & Saxby Chambliss Senate, offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and payroll taxes outright, and provide a IRS free replacement in the form of a retail sales tax:

H.R.25, S.1493
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information: http://www.fairtax.org, http://www.salestax.org & http://www.geocities.com/cmcofer/ftax.html