How so? If someone paid a painter $600 in cash under the table to paint his house, how would the FairTax catch this?
$600 will only get you a room pianted, unless you have a really small house!
The $600 would get taxed when (if) the painter bought something with it. (Assuming, of course, that his purchase wasn't an under the table deal as well).
Unless the painter took the $600 cash and burned it, the Fair Tax will catch it when he spends it.
When the painter takes that $600 to the grocery store, to Wal-mart, hardware store, to the restaurant, to the mall, it will be taxed. Under a retail sales tax, the tax can only be avoided if that money is saved or invested.
If someone paid a painter $600 in cash under the table to paint his house, how would the FairTax catch this?
The painter (whom I assume is not certified as a business open to be monitored) would be paying tax on his purchases for materials as well as taxes on everything he buys in a legitimate business. Same is true of the person hiring the painter.
It would "catch" the painter on the spending side, same as you and me. It puts us on equal footing with the underground economy.
Note that most estimates of NRST rates don't tak ethe underground economy into account.
If the 15% in the article is right, NRST could be significantly cheaper than current estimates. I suspect the 15% is low, especially with all the illegal immigrants we have nowadays.
The fair tax taxes consumption not income. Any serive you buy is not taxed.
The fair tax is the solution to every problem, just ask them.
FairTax doesn't tax services. "Under the table" makes no sense in this context.
I am continually appalled that there are conservatives who don't support the NRST. It may not be 100% perfect, but it is a vast improvement over the income tax structure.