And you seem to miss the point that the underground economy is not going to be able to do some sort of wholesale evasion of the FairTax - it'll be there in everything they buy at retail except for some extremely rare (and short term) instances. The illegal economy will be contributing greatly to the tax revenues (which they aren't now) and that helps lower the burden on the rest of us. The "evasions" you have outlined will not be too successful or for too long as I pointed out.
Also you seem to be in denial about any tax cost component being embedded into prices. Generally, economists admit that prices are increased over what they might otherwise be because of increases caused by income taxes. You seem to not understand that and are looking within your own business for something that stuck out like a big, red-tagged item and said "tax and tax costs here" so you can "remove" them. That's not how it works and such costs are not tagged like that - but they are there. Many come in the form of increased prices of the things you buy for your business or your personal consumption. You obviously don't grasp what those sorts of costs are.
You can be in denial all you wish - which clearly you are by your "bull****" comment but you are paying those increased costs in everything you buy and it IS chargeable as a "benefit" of the income tax. We can argue about the amount all day long (and there are studies that show the amount to be in the 20-22% range despite what you've been told by the rest of the SQL crowd), but pretending they do not exist - or that they cost you nothing is only a dream.
Let's pretend that the embedded tax costs amount to 1/2 of the 22% ... even then you would be paying an amount of income tax or costs increased due to income taxes of $20,188 plus $127,485 x 0.11 = $14,023 for a total of $34,211. That's still a hell of a lot MORE (54% MORE) than with the FairTax of $22,263 - all using your unchecked figures.
So you just keep right on living in your economic dream world. I'll support the FairTax and see my tax burden lowered - as you would if you stopped to think.
Dear pigdog,
You've added almost nothing to the conversation with your latest post. I will, however, take a second to show you how stupid is the assertion that there are 22% embedded taxes in the cost of stuff, on average.
In the US, the typical company pays out approximately 70% of its revenue to its employees. Unless you're planning for most US companies to REDUCE compensation, there is no "embedded" anything in that number. You'll notice, to bend over backwards in fairness to the national theft tax, I actually even gave the mythical employee the employer's side of payroll taxes, to prevent an even worse showing for the national theft tax. So, unless you REALLY want to screw workers, you can't even count the 7.65% employer's side of payroll taxes.
Anyway, actual company profits take up about 8%, on average, of revenue. That's it. Eight percent. That's the average.
That leaves 22% for all other inputs.
Rent, raw materials, heating, air conditioning, electricity, toilet paper, pens, pencils, computers, printers, desks, chairs, management consultants, lawyers, accountants, regulatory experts, salespersons, commissions to non-employee reps, you name it. An average of 22%.
Unless you're saying that 100% of all other inputs are "embedded taxes," well, it just ain't so. I doubt that it's even 20% of that 22% (about four and a half percent). Perhaps it's a few percent of the 22%.
But that will be offset by increased compliance costs as the cost of complying with sales tax regimes in all 50 states goes through the roof, as the feds and states have to dramatically shift enforcement to sales tax evasion, courtesy of combined sales tax rates of 35% and up.
Finally, there is absolutely no reason on Earth that a repeal amendment could not first be passed before implementing a national sales tax. The repeal amendment could easily have a clause something like this:
"The 16th amendment, and the authority for the federal government to implement and maintain, or continue to maintain an income tax, will expire three years (five years? whatever you need) after the passage of this repeal amendment."
Only then would we know for sure that a national sales tax would not become a national theft tax, to be ultimately twinned with an eventually resurrected income tax.
sitetest