Not to mention "THE BLACK MARKET". We'll need more revenue agents than now employed by the IRS.
I am sure you'll want to ping your tax ping list to this one, to refute the arguments, and the many false premises.
I don't have time to go point by point, but let me just ask you -- what is YOUR alternative?
Do you think the current system is so great, that we should keep it?
Or do you favor the "short form": "How much do you make, send it all in", then the government will provide for what they think your needs are.
I question some of the conclusions you have reached to support your position, but my primary opposition to the current taxation scheme is that it is more about rewarding and punishing behavior than about raising money. This is the primary engine of social engineering and power for congress which is the real root of the opposition to change.
How convenient!
Mighty good of you (even if unintended) to get all the fallacies and distortions about the FairTax out in one place like this.
Thanks.
Put together whatever you like. Everyone of the 20 countries you mention above added the sales tax to their existing Income Tax.
Apples and oranges.
I am amazed when I hear people make claims that say by changing the *method* they will decrease the total burden.
And I am amazed that folks are stupid enough to believe that.
The federal government should just bill states for their portion of the national budget,proportional to the population,and leave it to the state governments to decide how to tax their people.That would give us some CHOICE.
You are 100% right. 100%. Thank You
What is YOUR the alternative to income tax, numbnutz..
You deride with out an alternative.. sounds like a democrat..
Give it up.. are you FOR the federal income tax.?. or not..
IF not spit it out.. libertariians (years ago) were for the basic dismanteling of the federal government for all practical purposes completely.. I'm down with that to a certain extent.. WHAT say ye?.. smartass.. carping just for carping sake is better left to democrats.. they are better at it.. due to 100+ years of failed systems, wars, and solutions..
OUT YOURSELF.. (shineing fingernails) I'm listening..
"The 23% sales tax rate turns 37%"
What 23%? I only pay, I believe, 7.25%.
If I were paying 23% or 37% -- depending on the basis on which the rate is being applied -- I would have known by now.
Why not replace the income tax with the municipal property tax? If you own expensive property (real estate, cars, boats, etc.), you pay more in taxes. Owners, including landlords, would pay their taxes directly to the municipality. Landlords would pass-through their property taxes in rents they charge--just like today. The municipalities would collect the taxes and send the feds their share.
I already pay 9 percent on every retail purchase I make.
The National Sales Tax is a horrible, horrible idea drawn up from the depths of hell.
The correct answer to fiscal solvency, institute the flat tax, eliminate all deductions, and start trimming some federal departments.
Sales Tax revenue is unreliable, in times of economic boom, you're doing great, but as every state in this country has recently found out, the minute sales come to a halt, your revenue comes to a halt too.
Notice that when state's have sales tax holidays, the stores get more crowded then they do on the day after Thanksgiving. People will knowingly level off spending during the year, just so they can pig out on the holiday, or, get one over on the government.
7. Underground Economy still not taxed. The NRST advocates falsely claim that the underground economy now will be taxed. Nothing could be further then the truth. Sure, when the money re-enters the legal economy the money is taxed, but that is true today. But will the drug dealers and prostitutes remit sales tax for their goods and services under the NRST? Absolutely not, this portion of the economy is still invisible to the tax collector and therefore not taxed. According to Bruce Bartlett, 'thus whatever revenue is gained when drug dealers spend their ill-gotten gains will be lost because no tax was collected on their drug sales.' (Bruce R. Bartlett, senior fellow, National Center for Policy, Analysis, November 5, 1997).
The above is total and complete idiocy. The assumption is that because it "misses" the first taxation, something has been lost, and that it happens today because hookers, drug dealers do it. Yeah, sure they don't pay INCOME tax now and only pay SALES tax when they spend, but what happens when the NRST changes the rate? I'll tell you, it got missed the first go'round because it's illegal, but we got it on the second go'round because, my friend, it ain't at the same rate. And, if you think quoting Mr. Bruce Barlett substantiates your claim, well, he's an idiot too if he can't figure that out!
I didn't waste time reading any further, this one was enough to know the bread's not baked....
Goring-the-ox-that-gores-the-hen-that-lays-your-golden-eggs ping.
Do government agents pay income tax? E.g. George Bush?
Yes they do.
Talk about fraudulent analyses.
That was on top of income and business taxes, not instead of them which is the proposal at issue here.
Another fraud in your list.
Bookmark.
Well, I'm not a "sales tax worshipper." But Reason #2, that 37% isn't enough, is ludicrous. Brookings 44% wouldn't be enough. Hellfire and damnation, 100% wouldn't be enough for these pigs at the trough, under static analysis.
The point, I think, is that proponents want taxes in the open, not hidden in withholding that people don't see. If people see taxes in the open, maybe the outcry would make 25% or 10% enough, by cutting the government crap.
I am skeptical of that view--after all, we put up with TSA and all the other encroachments, so the 'Merkin people are too comfortable and too far down the road to serfdom to revolt (even metaphorically). But let's at least give the argument its due.