Posted on 05/05/2006 1:35:32 PM PDT by RobFromGa
In my letter to Rep. Linder and Mr. Boortz of August 24, 2005, I pointed out a number of what I called “serious misrepresentations” of the Fair Tax plan contained in “The FairTax Book”. I specifically named many of these by page #.
Now that the revised second issue is out, let’s see what they did to these passages in the book:
First edition page 55, you go on to explain that these embedded taxes are “in addition to the money taken out of your check in income and payroll taxes.”
Second edition- this line was eliminated. This means that they are acknowledging that the 22% embedded taxes INCLUDE the income and payroll taxes which was one of my points all along.
First edition page 59, “Once the FairTax takes effect, you’ll be receiving 100 percent of every paycheck, with no withholding of federal income taxes, Social security taxes, or Medicare taxes and you’ll be paying just about the same price for T-shirts and other consumer goods and services that you were paying before the FairTax.”
Second edition- “Once the FairTax takes effect, you’ll be in complete control of your paycheck as nothing will be withheld and your purchasing power for t-shirts and all other goods and services will be almost exactly what it was before the FairTax.”
This means that they are acknowledging that “purchasing power” will remain the same, not a big increase in purchasing power as they previously asserted with their larger paychecks/same prices verbiage. They eliminated the “100% of paycheck” wording.
First edition page 83: “Remember that the poor, along with everyone else—will no longer have Social Security taxes or Medicare taxes removed from their paychecks. Whatever they earn, they get on payday. For most of those we categorize as poor, this would mean an immediate 25 to 30 percent increase in their take-home pay.”
Second edition- “Remember that the poor, along with everyone else—will no longer have Social Security taxes or Medicare taxes removed from their paychecks. Whatever they earn, they get on payday. If employers leave this money in paychecks instead of taking it out of price, most of those we categorize as poor, this would mean an immediate 25 to 30 percent increase in their take-home pay.”
Of course, this acknowledges that the employer has a choice to make—to pay the worker his current paycheck and not reduce prices (meaning prices with FairTax added go up 30%) or to cut paychecks to present takehome levels. They cannot both give workers more takehome pay and reduce prices. The Free Lunch described in the first edition is eliminated.
First edition, page 84, you make it clear though that even though the workers will keep all of their paychecks for a big raise, you still believe that because of “the disappearance of the embedded taxes, the total price paid for consumer goods will remain very nearly the same”.
Second edition—“when you factor in the combined lower prices/higher takehome pay caused by the disappearance of the embedded taxes” prices will remain about the same.
This again acknowledges that they money currently deducted as taxes can either be used to increase take-home pay or reduce prices but not both at the same time. If they were being more honest here, they would have referred to purchasing power remaining the same rather than prices, but they are trying to put the best possible spin on this major admission.
First edition page 111, you tie it all together with a Quick Review in which you erroneously assert that “Here’s what happens when we pass and implement the FairTax plan:
“We start collecting 100 percent of our earnings on our paycheck.
“We all get virtual raises, since payroll taxes are no longer siphoned from our checks.
“The prices of consumer goods and services remain essentially the same, with the removal of the embedded taxes compensating for the added consumption tax.”
Second edition:
“We start controlling our earnings in every paycheck” (whatever that means)
“100% earnings” line is eliminated from the second edition. "virtual raises" is likewise eliminated.
“Our purchasing power for buying consumer goods and services remains essentially the same, with the removal of the embedded taxes compensating for the added consumption tax.”
This is a MAJOR difference in the Quick Review! In the first edition, they promised larger paychecks and prices remianign the same—which means a major increase in purchasing power. Of course this was a ridiculous promise. In the second edition, they say our purchasing power will be about the same.
They still left a lot of wrong and misleading verbiage throughout the book, but they addressed most of the concerns that I sent to them and removed those claims in the second book.
10 year old data, invalidated by the Bush tax cuts.
Sorry, no cigar.
Your claim that the current income tax code is more visible than a retail sales tax would be removes any chance at credibility you might have.
Not that you've ever had any around here.
The basic facts haven't changed in ten years.
The FairTax is superior to any kind of communist-inspired income tax in every respect.
Unless you're a statist and love the slave tax.
Spending hundreds of billions of dollars per year on totally inefficient and wasteful compliance with an antiquated communist income tax is "good economics" according to you?
Granting foreign companies massive advantages over our firms, not only globally but in our own market, is "good economics"?
You must have went to Clown School.
How can you ensure with your proposal that the govt won't interfere with it in the future??
Your claim that the current income tax code is more visible than a retail sales tax would be removes any chance at credibility you might have.Explain to me how the the $350+ billion in FairTax the state and local governments would be paying on their purchases and the wages of their employees would be "visible" to a person buying something at retail.
Your entire #59 amounts to nothing more than rearranging deck chairs on the Titantic, unfortunately.
We need to junk the whole communist-inspired mess and start over with an efficient twenty-first century system that treats everyone equally, maintains privacy for the individual taxpayer, and is simple and visible.
The only way to do that is with a national retail sales tax, AKA the FairTax.
There is no other way.
Visibility is one of the many great features of the retail sales tax.Apparently you live in California. California has a variety of state and local sales taxes on a variety of goods and services. The Sales Tax rate and amount are printed on every receipt. You apparently think this visibility help you know how much tax you pay.
How much did you pay in retail sales taxes last year?
As usual, you're straining at gnats and swallowing camels.
I see you're still in tenth grade with your buddies.
You intentionally miss the point. It isn't the total amount that is important to remember. It is the percentage of my purchases. It gives me a mark to gauge my elected representatives by.
How much did you pay in income taxes? Don't forget anything when you answer...
Basic economics?Hundreds of billions of dollars are not "spent" every year on compliance. If you understood basic economics you would know that when an economist says "cost" he doesn't mean money out of pocket (that would be an "expenditure"). To an economist, people reading this thread "cost" several thousand dollars.
Spending hundreds of billions of dollars per year on totally inefficient and wasteful compliance with an antiquated communist income tax is "good economics" according to you?
If you don't think the billions of manhours Americans spend on the income tax has any value, you must be a Democrat.
As usual, you're straining at gnats and swallowing camels.As usual, you failed to answer the question so I will repeat it. "Explain to me how the the $350+ billion in FairTax the state and local governments would be paying on their purchases and the wages of their employees would be "visible" to a person buying something at retail."
Except for the part that's not, like the federal taxes the state and federal governments would be paying (more than twice the current "hidden" corporate income tax) and would be "hidden" in our state and local sales, income, and property taxes.Not to mention the 20+% increase over and above their own (inadequate) calculation of the actual amount needed for revenue neutrality to pay for their NEW (GAG!) "prebate" entitlement.
If you don't think the billions of manhours Americans spend on the income tax has any value, you must be a Democrat.How long did it take you to do you taxes this year?
Minus the prebate feature, antis exactly like yourself would just be whining about how "unfair" the tax was to the poor.
FairTax designers made every effort to make the tax base as broad as possible, specifically to keep the needed rate down.
As in all things in life, there are trade-offs. This one was judged to be needed to take the edge off the arguments of the Leftist attackers. In a perfect world, it wouldn't be needed, but unfortunately the country is full of people like you and your negativist friends.
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