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 ...
Nope ... check post #282 - and we’re still speaking of the effective tax rate, not marginal rate.
Give me your name, SSN, and address and I’ll see what can be done ... but just remember - you asked for it.
People already pay less than the FT rate, and no one is left off the chart - all quintiles are represented. There is no rational comparison to the current effective rate, and that which is part of a fantasy dreamed up by the fairtaxers.
That’s no ocean if you’re a swimmer, no hill if you’re a climber; but I guess you’ve never lurked.
... and that’s no message if you’re a typist...
Nope. We're talking about money I've already paid tax on several times being taxed again. No thanks.
Most people do not pay less than the effective FT rate and, yes, there are 20 or more million left off of the chart in the form of those in the underground economy who will now pay a reasonable amount of tax in the form of the effective FairTax rate.
If they’re non-citizens, they’ll also pay a higher rate than the rest of us spending the same amount of money since they are not eligible for the prebate.
Why in the world do you walk wall street? I thought everyone there traveled by cab or limo (or bicycle in some cases)?
Gee ... really??? Whattaguy! I’ll look for it within the hour.
If I spend $1,000,000 of my already taxed savings, do I get a larger prebate than if I spend $10 of my savings?
Which ones?
What about services? I don't pay a tax on my doctor visits. Will I under the FairTax?
That has been calculated and presented time and again on these threads in the past and it’s a relatively paltry amount - especially so if the payer is a non-citizen since it’s the full 23% marginal rate for him.
Nice spin, no banana for you though.
So, you see, it depends upon how you consume - not how much. Spread it out more and you’ll pay less in taxes (and still get the same prebate).
I know.
So, you see, it depends upon how you consume - not how much.
If I spend savings, I'd pay 30% more after the FairTax.
I don't pay a tax on my doctor visits.You certainly do, but I agree that you seem blissfully unaware of that. You've paid taxes on everything you spend there in the form of income tax.
For every $100 you pay the doctor, you actually had to earn a bit over $130 at the 28% income tax rate and pay the income tax thereon to have the $100 to fork over to Dr. Kildare.
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