Posted on 12/24/2007 7:55:05 AM PST by Alex Murphy
WASHINGTON Mike Huckabee, one of the most conservative Republicans in the 2008 presidential race, has embraced one of the most radical ideas on the campaign trail: a plan to abolish all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a single 23% national sales tax.
The idea -- dubbed the "fair tax" by proponents -- has been a political asset for Huckabee; its well-organized backers have helped catapult him from the back of the presidential pack to its top tier.
Sales tax proponents have tapped into seething voter hostility toward the Internal Revenue Service to become a below-the-radar political force, popping up at campaign events and candidate forums in Iowa and elsewhere.
The efforts on Huckabee's behalf by sales tax advocates helped spur his surprise second-place showing in an August Iowa straw poll -- the breakthrough that marked the beginning of his rise in the state and nationwide.
He is the only major presidential candidate to make the idea central to his campaign. "The first thing I'd love to do as president: Put a 'going out of business' sign on the Internal Revenue Service," he said at one debate.
Some wonder, however, whether his embrace of the plan eventually could turn into a liability.
The sales tax proposal has been around for years but languished on the fringes of practical politics and policy. Tax professionals generally regard the idea as impractical, regressive and even "crackpot," as one critic puts it.
It has gone nowhere in Congress. The 2005 Presidential Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform soundly rejected the idea. And many politicians shy away from it because it is easy for opponents to portray it as a huge tax increase -- as Democrats did in a 2006 Senate race in South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
23%? Fair?
The economy would grind to a halt
Ping!
I wish that were true.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Of course they did -- any lie will do to hang on to that power to control people's lives.
They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.
This is the Fair Tax advocated for a long time by Neal Boortz. This article is a hit piece, because it completely miscontrues the Fair Tax and omits the offsets from eliminating the Income Tax and FICA.
Some say that Romney "must be stopped".It's this clown who must be stopped.
How about we institute the fair tax and eliminate, inter alia, the Huckster?
Once the fair tax would be implented, all other federal taxes would cease. The LA times failed to mention the prebates.
I cannot believe that people here on FR would take an analysis by the LA slimes at face value.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Why would anyone bother quoting a "news" service that publishes such BS?
It would grind to a halt not because a sales tax like that could not work...but because it would simply be an additional tax and nothing else would go away. Its simply this...thegovernment folks who are there for ever, it seems, would simply speand mor ethan they already do and make our future worse than it already is.
I just realized this ‘fair tax’ business is big ‘screw’ time for me. I recently retired and pay nearly nothing in fed taxes anymore. Nothing. It’s a secret/good planning.
So this tax is a major screwing for me.
You can read all about the proposal at the Americans for Fair Taxation website.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
a plan to abolish all federal income and payroll taxes and...
Don't be such a lemming. This is the LA Times trying to make you think it's a new 23% tax - it's not. And while we're here, forget the money for a moment. The Fair Tax would completely strip the congress of the ability to enact the kind of social engineering we Freepers (are supposed to ) despise. At least TRY to get a clue...
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