"The current social security setup is both visible and separate. "
Perhaps it's separate but it's not terribly visible overall to those paying into it to support the "old folks". The money is taken before the taxpayer sees it and he has no option - and usually little idea how mch he pays for S/S, but just some vague notion that - along with his other taxes - it's "too much".
There seems to be no great rush in Congress to do much about S/S and it's pretty obvious that there will soon be one wage earner supporting many receivers - not economically healthy at all.
The FairTax OTOH gives us additional time by funding the plan without making it a practical impossibility and it makes the tax costs very visible to each taxpayer with every taxable purchase. That will certainly ratchet up the political pressure to alter S/S and reduce tax rates unless you believe that taxpayers actually like higher taxes ... I certainly don't.
The fastest way to reform social security is to bankrupt it.
It is right there on every pay stub. At the end of the year, the total paid for the year is on the employee's W2. If the taxpayer has "little idea how much he pays", he is either impaired, or just doesn't care.
I wonder, is the employee who doesn't know how much is deducted from his pay check for SS going to have any interest in or ability to understand how much he pays in sales taxes? Will he save his receipts and add the tax every two weeks to see how much he is paying?
There seems to be no great rush in Congress to do much about S/S and it's pretty obvious that there will soon be one wage earner supporting many receivers - not economically healthy at all.
I don't think even the most pessimistic projections anticipate that.
The FairTax OTOH gives us additional time by funding the plan without making it a practical impossibility and it makes the tax costs very visible to each taxpayer with every taxable purchase. That will certainly ratchet up the political pressure to alter S/S and reduce tax rates unless you believe that taxpayers actually like higher taxes...
What happened to all that talk about lower effective tax rates and more disposable income you've been promising.