[Man50D]

They acknowledge that a sales tax is regressive, falling most heavily on the poor who spend a greater share of income.

This is factually incorrect. The Fair Tax is progressive. A person's effective tax rate(post prebate) will decrease as income decreases.

"The required (sales tax) rate would be sufficiently high to make enforcement too difficult and evasion too tempting," writes William Gale, an economist with the Washington-based Tax Policy Center.

The Fair Tax rate is no higher than the total of hidden taxes paid under the income tax. It is actually less if the 7.65 percent employer matching, business taxes and compliance costs are added.

"They're very highly motivated. In terms of their agenda you can't ignore them," he said. "They're going to have an effect."

That effect will be more profound as time passes.

Bruce Bartlett, a Treasury Department official under former President George H.W. Bush, says the effective sales tax would be 30 percent, not the 23 percent that supporters say.

Mr. Bartlett doesn't have a clue. First of all the dollar amount collected will be the same regardless if quoting the 23% inclusive rate or the 30% exclusive rate. Second, those quotes are before the prebate. The effective rate is post prebate. On average the effective rate will be 15.5%.

[Man50D]

Fair Tax ping!

[vetsvette]

The current tax system is an abomination and needs to be replaced — and the Fair Tax is the best alternative ever developed.

That said, it’s far too complex an issue to serve as a major platform in a Presidential campaign. Any candidate that tries to use it as a platform will be faced with myriad mindless and misleading bumper sticker slogans, each of which could easily be put to bed in one-on-one conversations with thinking people, but which will be impossible to deal with in large numbers on a national level. And, however impossible the problem is on its own merits, the leftist press, invested in maintaining the current system and the liberal ideology that depends on it, will be dedicated to publishing as much misinformation regarding this subject as possible.

I don’t like Huckabee — he’s a natural tyrant — and I wouldn’t mind seeing him step on his own privates in this regard, but I still hope that he doesn’t adopt the Fair Tax because it needs and deserves — and the American public needs and deserves — a fair hearing in a proper venue.

[Mumbles]

At least the posts here make sense. Perviously I was hustled in what I can only call a “jsck booted’ respnse vby supporters. It was like posting to a FRED Thread. That type of behavior by supporters will only cause big losses for their cause.

BTW I and my wife are retired. We are in the 29% tax bracket PLUS 7.25% State and Local Sales TAx. People think they pay that amount or more based on the Fedral Tax rates. They forget that it is a GRADUATED Income Tax and the upper ranges are a marginal rate of tax, not on the entire (taxable) income. SIC. Mr BOORTZ and his pals will gheta reduction of tax under fair tax, while the rest of the country will be calling it a F* Tax.

Does he think people will be buying a $21000+ economical car and paying close to $30,000 under a “F” Tax? Will the factory workers, sales people, transporters etc be thrown out of work? - the same for many other parts of the economy. So will we need more “F”: Tax to make up the pitfall?

[robertpaulsen]

"The effective rate is post prebate. On average the effective rate will be 15.5%."

If it is true that the Fair Tax merely replaces the hidden taxes and other tax costs, then the price we pay for goods and services will remain the same. Why is the prebate necessary? I mean, if the poor have the same amount of untaxed disposable income (or government handouts) and if prices remain the same with the Fair Tax added, why the 500 bucks every month?

The poor are paying these hidden taxes today and nobody's crying for them today saying that these hidden taxes are "falling most heavily on the poor who spend a greater share of income". Why the sudden socialistic compassion for "the poor"? To get their vote?

Eliminate the prebate and tout the Fair Tax at 15%. Wouldn't that be more platable to the American people?

[Don Corleone]

If “Fair Tax” supporters could put on a push like all America did for the “Immigration” sell out the Fair Tax would be enacted by years end.

[RightWhale]

• repeal the 16th Amendment that authorizes them

  Hard to repeal something that wasn't adopted. The trick would be to reverse the truckload of caselaw that de facto if not de jure makes the income tax as good as anything.

[unixfox]

Foes?

Are there any friends? Excpet of course among themselves?

[longtermmemmory]

fair tax is REGRESSIVE on Business.

It creates double taxation on supplies and products produced.

It creats a whole new federal system of paper pushing and paper pushers.

It also creates the communist style PREBATE which is a boodogle in a Democrat Party’s wet dream. Class warfare via prebate. (who determines ability? who determines need? why its your friendly neighborhood socialist government in Washington DC.)

Fair Tax = Snake Oil.