[lucysmom]

But Lucy, you said that the rebate is an entitlement. How could you say that if you now say that you don't have enough information to determine whether the rebate results in anything other than refund of taxes paid?

If someone receives regular gifts of food, clothing, and housing from a charity, who pays the tax? If a church gifts a destitute member with a used car, who pays the tax? If the rental value of a home one owns is counted as an expenditure, who pays the tax?

An in kind gift may be counted as an expenditure when measuring certain economic activity though no money has changed hands, and I assume, no tax would be paid even under the FairTax.

What is interesting, is that FairTaxers make the claim that even the impoverished "spend" up to the poverty level when justifying the prebate, and present tax free purchasing opportunities (legal evasion) when promising the tax "will be good for you too".

What's your real reason to object to the nrst?

Economists can therorize what the effects of the FairTax will be, but without actual experience, nobody knows.

For instance, experience in other countries has shown the sales taxes over 12% are difficult to collect, a fact poo pooded by the FairTaxers.

[pigdog]

So please present a link to the definitive study or studies that show this magical "12% cutoff" ... oh, and be sure to indicate the specifics of the "sales tax" involved since most are replete with exemptions and exceptions rather than being like the FairTax.

You apparently do not know the origin of this particular urban legend, but since you choose to promulgate it, let's see your background material.

[pigdog]

And, presumably then, it's quite all right for you to theorize just the opposite since YOU are also one of those with no practical experience who knows nada also.

Since you oppose the FairTax with every peculiar reason you can dredge up, your position seems to be that your opinions hold more credence than, say, an economist who has studied things of this sort for his life's work???

Interesting!!!

[pigdog]

"An in kind gift may be counted as an expenditure when measuring certain economic activity though no money has changed hands, and I assume, no tax would be paid even under the FairTax."

Had you actually read the bill, you'd have known the answer to this "assumption".

[Principled]

Sorry Lucy. No sale.

You said you rejected the rebate because it represents an entitlement. But there will be fewer negative rates under the nrst than the income tax as evidenced by the BLS data link above.

So your reasoning is faulty. If you really were concerned about minimizing negative tax rates, you would be in favor of the nrst because it reduces negative tax rates to a negligible number. See the BLS data above.

So why do you pretend to want to minimize negative tax rates?