Supply-Siders Plan a Panel to Rival Mack's (It ain't over by a long shot)

The New York Sun ^ | October 24, 2005 | MEGHAN CLYNE

[ancient_geezer]

WASHINGTON - Disappointed by recommendations from President Bush's advisory panel on tax reform, a group of free-market economists will try their hand at overhauling America's tax structure and are set to form their own unofficial advisory panel this week, prospective members told The New York Sun.

[ancient_geezer]

It yah want something done right, yah does it your own self.

[ancient_geezer]

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If anyone 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:

• search: "national sales tax" OR "national retail sales tax" OR "fairtax"

[ovrtaxt]

"Given the way taxable income is defined, it gets taxed two, three, even four times," Mr. Hunter said. Instead of having Americans pay taxes on money they earn, money they spend, money they save, and money they invest, Mr. Hunter said, the fairest measure of taxable income would be income that is consumed.

Let's elect Mr. Hunter to something!

[Bigun]

The group's goal will be to present an alternative set of tax-reform proposals for the president's consideration before the State of the Union address in January, when he is next expected to deal seriously with the issue of restructuring the nation's tax system.

That's good cause this Mack/Breaux commission has COMPLETELY missed the boat!

[postaldave]

we got the democrats out of power, no we need to work on getting the spineless republicans out of power.

after that, down hill and a return to the founders idea of freedom.

[groanup]

The polls for Republicans are down. But, guess what? So are the polls for Democrats. If one were a thinking person what would one garner from that little piece of knowlege? Perhaps that the polls for GOVERNMENT are down!! There is an underlying poplulace that has had it with this ridiculous tax code and its manner of empowering politicians and interest groups.

If I want to empower IBM then I'll keep the tax code as it is. If I want to empower Microsoft, then I'll keep the tax code as it is. Do any of you know that Microfoft buys millions of dollars worth of tax credits from Boston Capital? Do you know why?

https://www.bostoncapital.com/home.html

Because Boston Capital has made a name for itself as the great provider of low income housing in areas that have high housing costs. What's the big deal about that? Well, in high income areas you have to have firemen, policemen, sanitation workers, etc.

Why does Microsoft buy these credits? Because the rate of return on them is astronomical for a widely held corporation. It's well above anthing available in the real estate market with an equivalent amount of risk. Do you know why the rate of return is so high? Because we taxpayers are subsidizing it.

I'm not accusing Boston Capital of doing anything other than exploiting the tax code for its own gain. I am accusing the politicians of creating a tax code that is so complicated and so inane that Boston Capitital can exist.

And BTW, Boston Capital is not the only one in this business. It is the only one that I know of that does this business legitimately, or, at least, well.

And so, Microsoft can spend millions of dollars with Boston Capital, get a huge tax break, and claim to support poor people.

Don't get me wrong, MSFT would support poor people anyway. But the tax code COERCES them to support poor people the way the government wants them to. Do any of you think that the real estate industry or any other benefactor has a hand in this deal?

I am sick and tired of the tax code being used for the benifit of a few like Boston Capital and Microsoft. It should be administered fair and square among us all.

[lewislynn]

And so, Microsoft can spend millions of dollars with Boston Capital, get a huge tax break, and claim to support poor people.

----

I am sick and tired of the tax code being used for the benifit of a few like Boston Capital and Microsoft. It should be administered fair and square among us all.

You hate the fact the income tax gives them tax breaks but love the fact the Fairtax would eliminate their taxes all together....How would eliminating taxes on one select group be "fair and square among us all"?

[phil_will1]

"You hate the fact the income tax gives them tax breaks but love the fact the Fairtax would eliminate their taxes all together....How would eliminating taxes on one select group be 'fair and square among us all'?"

You are missing the point Lewie, but that's nothing new, is it?

The FairTax does not eliminate taxes on "one select group", it eliminates ALL corporate and individual income taxes, payroll taxes, capital gains, estate and gift taxes ..... ALL current forms of federal taxation except excises.

[phil_will1]

"It yah want something done right, yah does it your own self."

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. At first, I was concerned that another commission would take close to a year to come out with findings. Then I read the article which said they want to have recommendations for the President to consider in his State of the Union. I don't know how much stock the President will put in this alternative group, as compared to the Commission that he appointed. However, given the widespread criticism that his Commission's work product is receiving, it isn't surprising that an alternative is being promoted.

It is hard to even reconcile the Commission's interim report "America Needs a Better Tax System" with the recommendations which will apparently be in their final report. In fact, there would appear to be a total disconnect.

[phil_will1]

Did you see Peggy Noonan's great column in the WSJ? Boortz read part of it on the air. Here is the end.

"You're a lobbyist or a senator or a cabinet chief, you're an editor at a paper or a green-room schmoozer, you're a doctor or lawyer or Indian chief, and you're making your life a little fortress. That's what I think a lot of the elites are up to.
Not all of course. There are a lot of people--I know them and so do you--trying to do work that helps, that will turn it around, that can make it better, that can save lives. They're trying to keep the boat afloat. Or, I should say, get the trolley back on the tracks.
That's what I think is going on with our elites. There are two groups. One has made a separate peace, and one is trying to keep the boat afloat. I suspect those in the latter group privately, in a place so private they don't even express it to themselves, wonder if they'll go down with the ship. Or into bad territory with the trolley."

In the earlier part of the article, she points to the feeling among so many Americans that things just aren't working any more and that government especially the national government is overwhelmed and more and more people are sensing that. This leads into this last section, where she says that so many of the "elites" are just looking to protect themselves and either don't care or have given up on "getting the trolley back on the tracks" as she puts it.

I think the parallels to tax reform are obvious - at least to me. So many defenders of the current system have carved out a comfortable niche within the current tax system and don't care how destructive the entire system is. Either that, or they have become cynical and just don't see real, fundamantal change as possible.

I am old enough to remember the end of the Carter Presidency and the "malaise" (I think Pres. Carter himself coined that term) that afflicted America. I also remember how different it was under Reagan. I hope this is just a phase we are going through and that we can recapture the idealism and hopefulness that Peggy Noonan rightfully observes is lacking today.

BTW, the article is titled: "A Separate Peace
America is in trouble--and our elites are merely resigned."

[Mind-numbed Robot]

I'll have a big helping of those tax credits, a side of deductions, and a large accelerated depreciation, please. This is all you can cheat, er eat, isn't it?

[groanup]

Go back to K street and have a cigar lynn.

[lewislynn]

It yah want something done right, yah does it your own self.

Mr. Rahn, a former chief economist of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said the presidential panel was handicapped by politics, and "ill-formed to begin with."

"If you're serious about really changing the tax code," Mr. Rahn said, "you'll get people who are serious students of tax policy who will look at the evidence, and who won't be driven by political considerations, as clearly this commission was driven."

Then Bush got what he wanted...another worthless commission.

If he was serious about tax reform he would have done it himself without a phoney commission like he did with prescription drugs and CFR....

Tax reform...Be careful what you wish for.

[n-tres-ted]

Good comments, phil. Thanks.

[ancient_geezer]

If he was serious about tax reform he would have done it himself without a phoney commission like he did with prescription drugs and CFR

It isn't Presidents that one looks to for change in tax systems, that can only come from the electorating dragging kicking and screaming polititicians into doing what is required. Wait for a politician, and you wait forever.

 

Per-Capita REVENUES

 

It is time for a fundamental change, that comes from the electorate and people working outside of government pushing the cart and hauling the freight to get it done.

[pigdog]

Heck, Looey, I'm going to propose that we have the FairTax on everyone but you and retain the income tax, the IRS, etc. etc. - just for you so you'll be ecstatic.