Posted on 08/28/2007 4:39:18 PM PDT by Bigun
The People Must Demand The Fair Tax
By Doug Patton
August 28, 2007
Last year, during the United States Senate race in Nebraska, Republican challenger Pete Ricketts suggested that every option must be considered when looking at ways to reform our federal tax system. Among the list of alternatives Ricketts said should be on the table was a national sales tax known simply as the "Fair Tax."
The Democrat incumbent, U.S. Sen. Ben Nelson, launched an attack on his opponent that was, at best, distorted and condescending, at worst, irrational demagoguery. One would have thought that Ricketts had suggested stealing all the assets of the poor and handing them over to Warren Buffet and Bill Gates.
Recently, the panel of pundits on ABC's "This Week with George Stephanopoulos," discussing the apparent rise in popularity of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's presidential campaign message, scoffed at Huckabee's unabashed promotion of the Fair Tax.
George Will, the token "conservative" on the panel, brushed it aside with the disbelief of an elitist who cannot understand the burden of the average worker who would love to take home his or her entire paycheck, as the Fair Tax would allow him or her to do. Will opined that Huckabee's second place showing in the Iowa straw poll was even more amazing given the fact that "he supported a national sales tax of thirty percent, which means that if you buy a one million dollar house, you'll be writing a check to the government for three hundred thousand dollars." Of course, the others on the panel readily agreed.
The elites of this country, who buy those million-dollar homes, are not enamored with the Fair Tax. They would be if they took the time to understand its appeal.
The Fair Tax would replace all federal income taxes. No more federal withholding. No more Social Security withholding. No more Medicare withholding. No more stealing from the paychecks of American workers before they even see it and then pretending to give them a refund, without interest, at the end of the year. No more saving receipts for tax deductions. No more IRS audits. No more April 15th.
Instead, the Fair Tax would put us in control. All consumer items would be taxed. Business purchases would not. By allowing us to make the determination about what we buy and when we buy it, the ability of our legislators to manipulate our behavior is eliminated. That is why the elites don't like it. They can't control the public's spending habits under such a system.
The current federal tax system is broken. It cannot be fixed. Since the inception of the federal income tax with the passage of the 16th Amendment in 1913, federal corruption and control have turned it into a Frankenstein monster that torments the people and serves the special interests. A tax on a person's income is a tax on production, and as Ronald Reagan once said, "Whatever you tax, you get less of."
Because the poor are forced to spend a disproportionate percentage of their resources to cover the tax on necessities, the Fair Tax hits them the hardest. That issue can be addressed by simply issuing a "prebate" check each month to every household in the country. Unlike disingenuous tax credits, deductions, exemptions and other loopholes in the current income tax code, a prebate check is a clean, honest method of covering the sales tax on food, clothing and shelter - up to the poverty level.
Of course, removing the income tax on corporations will reduce the cost of everything we buy, since corporations don't pay taxes. They simply pass them along to consumers. The Fair Tax plan calculates that removing the corporate income tax will result in a reduction in the cost of virtually every consumer item on the market. In fact, it will just about offset the tax on those products. Imagine paying the same price for something but having your entire paycheck to buy it.
And then there are the billions of dollars that flow untaxed through our economy today: drug dealers, prostitutes, pornographers, foreign tourists. Imagine how much revenue could be raised simply by taxing the things those people consume.
There would be no more audits, no more justifying deductions, and April 15th would become just another spring day. But only if the people stand up to the elites and demand it.
No, I would have to pay them first, when I buy the investment, before I earn anything. There will be no more investing.
No you missed the point. Why would anyone invest anymore if they lose 30% of the investment up front?
“98% of those corrupt politicians returning to congress every election?”
I’m in awe at your brilliance. If we had good politicians then we wouldn’t be having this unfair tax problem now would we? Think about it.
bttt
So if houses are put in corporations and I buy the stock then I don't have to pay the 23% tax? I like that idea :) Any exceptions and the fair tax starts to fall apart.
I can put anything in a Corp. So you are telling me that I will never have to pay another tax except for my groceries?
No higher income people spend a much smaller percentage of their income on consumables. Your premise is flawed.
“No, I would have to pay them first, when I buy the investment, before I earn anything. There will be no more investing.” So with no more investing, what we will use all this money for....consumption? Wonder what that will do for the obesity problem!
No, that's untrue.
First, the NRST (National Retail Sales Tax under the FairTax legislation) can be financed as part of the mortgage. The increase in monthly payments is more than offset by the elimination of income taxes from a homebuyer's paycheck.
Second, the NRST is applied only to new homes and those new homes will be built with materials that cost less because the manufacturers will no longer need to pass on federal taxes into the cost structure. So new homes will cost less but the price will be brought back up by adding the NRST.
The key point to keep in mind is the FairTax is a replacement tax, not a tax on a tax. It replaces all the federal taxes that are embedded in pricing now. The embedded taxes are hidden. But they will be eliminated and then replaced by the visible FairTax.
Buying stock is not the same as buying a new retail product. When you buy stock, you are buying shares previously owned. Stock is not a consumer item.
So you are off here. You will no longer pay 15% capital gain on investment income because capital gain tax is repealed and eliminated under the FairTax.
You will pay a consumption tax only when you consume.
The WSJ is a joke. That’s why Murdoch is buying Dow Jones News to straighten out their spoiled child that has become the WSJ.
I read the WSJ article, it was flawed and biased. The writer Bruce Bartlett has not studied the FairTax and knows very little about how it really works.
If you want to go over point by point of his article spin, let me know.
But believing the WSJ’s current crop of spoiled children writers is almost as bad as believing Dan Rather.
And what was Kotlikoff's estimate?
I disagree vehemently with that statement ... Are you saying that we can’t do 2 things at once? I for one think that injecting a huge dose of freedom into the USA by modifying and easing the tax and accounting burden would be a great thing... a stronger America is a good thing and will be a positive in the WOT...
Wow, a typical stupid FairTax retort. Because the FairTax is infested with flaws and won't work as advertised, people who understand the flaws should leave the country?
My question to you is why you Doom and Gloom Chicken Little FairTaxers with all your talk of slavery to the IRS and your incessant whining about how horrible it is here, why don't you leave the US and start your own country and institute the FairTax there? Antarctica is available.
Anything that doesn’t promote the FTN doctrine is:
Evil,
Written by Morons,
Part of the “Vast SQL Conspiracy”
People invested in the current system
blah...blah...blah... oh, and “yawn” too.
While, business gets a tax break for providing insurance to it employees now, it would loose that tax advantage and, to use FairTax terminology, would be punished by the FairTax for providing that benefit.Do you think the business will "embedded" this into their prices?
...anything that isn’t profit... is cost.
FTN’s don’t understand that.
“embed” (it’s early)
...anything that isn’t profit... is cost. FTN’s don’t understand that.And... your point.
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