Oh come on now, you wouldn't want them to do anything simple would you? Besides, if they didn't have the tax code to tinker with all the time they might actually have time to do something else. Like maybe SECURE OUR BORDERS?
Posted on 08/08/2005 5:20:29 PM PDT by Man50D
As with the weather, a lot of people complain about the U. S. Tax Code, but few do anything about it. The reality is that the opportunity to do something about the tax code doesn't come around very often; maybe once per generation but now, in the year 2005, we have that opportunity. For the sake of all Americans and future generations of Americans, we must not squander this chance.
The President made tax reform one of the main objectives for his second term. He has vowed to reform the tax code, to make it "pro-growth, simple and easy to understand, and fair to all."
To this end, the President appointed a bipartisan panel to study the current outdated and unfair tax system and recommend changes. Change doesn't come easily in Washington and people are generally frightened by change, but in this case, change is absolutely necessary.
The current U. S. Tax Code is incomprehensible. No one understands every aspect of the code and even experienced tax professionals do not arrive at the same amount of tax due for any but the most basic of tax returns.
It is estimated that compliance costs drain over $200 billion per year from the economy and still millions of dollars of taxes due are never collected.
The granting of favors via the tax code is one of the major "duties" of Congress. A tax break here means a campaign contribution there. Some feel-good social engineering via the tax code today means votes tomorrow. Give special interest groups, their lobbyists and members of Congress enough time and their incestuous relationships produce the monstrosity of a tax code that we have today.
There is a better and fairer way for the government to collect taxes that will not only pay for government services but also promote economic growth and eliminate Washington tax engineering - the Fair Tax.
There is not enough space here to present all of the details of the Fair Tax, but briefly, the Fair Tax is a national sales tax that applies to the retail sale of goods and services. The income (both personal and corporate), payroll and inheritance taxes would be eliminated under the Fair Tax.
The first thing that comes from the mouths of the opponents of any sort of tax reform is that any change will hurt the poor and benefit the rich. In this case, they are half right. The Fair Tax would, with few exceptions, benefit everyone - rich and poor alike. The exceptions? Congressmen, lobbyists, tax attorneys and accountants.
Low-income families would be protected in two very important ways. First, everyone would receive a payment each month equal to the tax that would be paid on goods and services up to the poverty level. This payment would be made much as Social Security payments are made to retirees today. Low-income families would effectively not be taxed on the necessities of life.
Second, the highly regressive payroll tax would be eliminated. Currently, every working person is taxed 6.2% of his or her wages or salary with their employer paying an equal amount, up to an income threshold (presently $90,000 per year) and an additional 1.45% by both the employer and employee with no income limit. Those earning $90,000 or less per year are effectively paying 15.3% (counting the employer's portion which could otherwise go to the employee) right off the top. When income tax advocates talk about eliminating low-income people from the tax rolls, they never talk about the 15.3% haircut that low-income earners receive every payday. The Fair Tax puts that hard-earned money in the pocket of every worker.
The second thing that those that are uneducated on the Fair Tax screech is that prices for goods and services would skyrocket if a national sales tax were added to the sales taxes already collected in 45 states. It is very important to understand that upwards of twenty percent of the cost of retail goods and services under the present system represents the embedded taxes in the production chain. That is, the corporate income taxes and payroll taxes paid along every step of production are reflected in retail prices. When these taxes are eliminated, the final cost to the consumer of goods and services will remain essentially unchanged under the Fair Tax.
The Fair Tax would dramatically increase the competitiveness of American products in international markets thereby fueling economic growth. The Fair Tax would put 100% of your paycheck in your pocket. The Fair Tax would broaden the tax base - visitors to the United States would pay and the millions of dollars if ill gotten gains that escape the income tax in the underground economy would be taxed. The Fair Tax is, most of all, fair! No preferences. No loopholes. No tax breaks for some but not others. No paperwork to file.
The Fair Tax is not some pie-in-the-sky dream. The Fair Tax has been introduced in both the House (H. R. 25) and Senate (S. 25). The Fair Tax could be the most important piece of tax legislation since the Boston Tea Party, but it will NOT happen without citizen education and input.
Radio talk show host Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder (R-GA) have recently written a book, The FairTax Book, which describes the details of the Fair Tax. The book is available on the Americans for Fair Taxation website [1].
Learn about the Fair Tax and then make your voice heard in Washington. Every voice counts. The Fair Tax can become a reality but only if every American that believes that there is a better way calls or writes their senators and congressman and make it abundantly clear that the status quo is no longer acceptable. Take the time to make that call or write that letter in support of the Fair Tax. It is now or never.
> The Fair Tax has been introduced in both the
> House (H. R. 25) and Senate (S. 25).
For the record:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.00025:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquerytr/z?d109:SN00025:
The so-called "Fair Tax", or sales tax, has been a disaster in Europe. The Flat Tax has been a resounding success everywhere it's been tried (Ireland and Russia are two examples).
Why should we even consider a tax method that has flopped everywhere instead of one that has succeeded?
Oh come on now, you wouldn't want them to do anything simple would you? Besides, if they didn't have the tax code to tinker with all the time they might actually have time to do something else. Like maybe SECURE OUR BORDERS?
Um, because of their mind-numbingly stupid propaganda?
That is because that was a Value Added Tax (VAT, taxed at every stage of production) in Europe, while Fair Tax is a National Retail Sales Taxed (taxed only once during the sale of the finished product from seller to buyer/consumer).
How is the failed sales tax in Europe different from what is being presented here in the US?
Link to the Boortz/Linder book.
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(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and SS/Medicare payroll taxes outright and replace them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.
H.R.25,S.25
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:
Terrific endorsement. You can tell the desire for real reform runs very deep.
Wow, he has a job. Impressive credentials.
Good job!
Be prepared to be inundated by the "fair" (sic) tax Kool-Aid drinkers. They don't get what a creator of the black market economy that abomination is.
The so-called "Fair Tax", or sales tax, has been a disaster in Europe.
There is no "FairTax" system in Europe nor has there ever been. European nations have combinations of income taxes & VATs levied on business purchases passed through to the end retail customer and Income taxes.
The FairTax in a National Retail Sales tax paid only on products purchased for final consumption, not on business purchases as the VATs of Europe are.
Furthermore the FairTax repeals all federal income, SS/Medicare and Gift/Estate taxes, totally unlike any system in Europe.
Don't know where you got your information but the FairTax looks nothing at all like the tax systems in Europe, including their supposed Flat Tax which is a VAT with a progressive wage tax component, generally retaining retaining corporate income taxes as well a payroll taxes much like SS/Medicare taxes here.
Why should we even consider a tax method that has flopped everywhere instead of one that has succeeded?
Perhaps you will point out this country in which a retail sales tax only tax system has flopped.
I can point out several in which business purchase taxes (VATs) coupled with income & payroll taxes are flopping along with whole economies throughout Europe.
Um, because of their mind-numbingly stupid propaganda?
So true...so true. Kool-Aid drinkers all.
How is the failed sales tax in Europe different from what is being presented here in the US?
The FairTax legislation implements a retail level single stage, single rate tax at purchase for final consumption only, and repeals all federal income, payroll, and gift/estate taxes.
The European "sales" tax on the other hand is collected from all purchases by businesses as well as consumers up and down the chain of production and is always implemented with income and/or payroll taxes as well.
In fact the European VAT is merely a modification of the pre-WWII business turnover & transaction taxes of Europe that cascade piling tax on tax thoughout economies. The EU VAT introduced credit/voucher system to partially credit business purchase taxes for inputs when materials and goods were sold to succeeding businesses in the chain of production to reduce the compounding components of business purchase taxes and did nothing to remove income, payroll or other taxes, including retail taxes that exist in European economies.
The European systems guarantee a moribund economy throught he high impositions and extremely burdensome and costly red tape regulatory environments on its industy and businesses at all levels.
The FairTax legislation have none of the component of the European tax systems causing their extreme economic problems.
Fair Tax Bump!
The Flat Tax has been a resounding success everywhere it's been tried (Ireland and Russia are two examples).
You mean the Russian flat tax on individual with its 17% VAT on businesses coupled with 30%+ excess profits taxes, tripled gasoline excise taxes, and extremely regressive payroll taxes to pay for its social welfare programs?
Do you mean the Russian 17% VAT on business with individual flat tax, who its economists are recommending and working to replace with pure retail sales tax to get rid of the excess burden on their industries to better compete with European markets?
MOSCOW - VAT may be abolished two years from now and be replaced with a sales tax in Russia. The news came from Arkadiy Dvorkovich, chief of the presidential administration experts department, telling reporters that officials were studying the policy switch and its consequences.
“Obviously, this would be impossible in 2006, but it could be introduced beginning in 2007,” he said, adding that a sales tax of ten to fifteen percent should be introduced along with VAT’s disappearance.
You told me too late. :-(
They are so far from getting it that I'm not even going to try to respond.
The Flat Tax has been a resounding success everywhere it's been tried (Ireland and Russia are two examples).
Do you mean the same Ireland that now has also implement a 17% VAT on its busineses along with its employer remitted 15% PAYE tax on wages as it seeks to enter the European Union with its glorious successes?
http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Publications/tsg/tsg9828.htm
Tax Compliance
Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Dublin Castle.
***3. THE BLACK ECONOMY
3.1 Size and Nature of Irregular Economy
It has not proved possible to design a model which is capable of computing the extent of black economy activity with any level of certainty. Two recently reported estimates of the size of the Irish black economy differ significantly. An article in The Economist of May 3 1997 estimated the size of the Irish Shadow Economy (as a percentage of the 1994 Official GNP) at 15.3%: an article in Summer 1997 Irish Banking Review estimated the size of the Black Economy in Ireland in 1995 at 10.7%. The wide difference in these estimates confirms the view of Gabriel Fagan that "from a methodological point of view, it is evident that all of the available techniques for estimating the magnitude of the black economy suffer from significant limitations". All countries have this problem. In some other countries the size of the black economy is put at 20% of GNP or higher. A paper prepared by the EU Commission put the size of our black economy in the region of 5-10% of GDP, with figures for other member States going as high as 35%.
3.2 Revenue generally see two dimensions to black economy activity
- people whose activities remain wholly undetected and
- people who are on record for tax purposes but do not declare the full extent of their activities and income.
That is wise. Their fanaticism was not reasoned in, so it cannot be reasoned out.
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