[Anti-Bubba182]

" Tax professionals generally regard the idea as impractical, regressive and even "crackpot," as one critic puts it..."

They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.

[andy58-in-nh]

"Tax professionals" make a fortune off of the insanely-complicated Federal Tax Code, so I wouldn't exactly take their word for it. I believe that some version of the Fair Tax would be preferable, but with exemptions for food, clothing and housing, and allowances for child care, for example. Income withholding has greatly facilitated the growth of the Federal government while making people think the government is giving them something back when they get "refunds". I would also employ import tariffs in the same proportion that other countries choose to tax our exports.

There are many possible solutions, and I don't claim to possess the best answer. But the present system is rotten to the core, fomenting government excess, corruption and the destruction of wealth. But whichever one we ultimately choose, I would prefer it be overseen by someone other than Mr. Huckabee.

[The Bat Lady]

the author is one man who has not read the book. My question is WHY would he not want the power to be returned to the people?

Scumbag!

#8 They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.

And here is another one who hasn't read the book.

Since every single US citizen (and those here legally) would get the rebate (read about it in the book) then they would NOT be worse off then they are today. AND in fact the entire US economy would take off like a rocket and any poor people who didn't take advantage of it are never going to be helped by "redistribution and socialism"

And here is another who hasn't read the book Gay State Conservative post #10 it doesn't increase your taxes if you illimanate all other taxes. and the IRS who doesn't need to know your business to tax you. you just pay it when you buy things. You don't want to pay taxes then don't buy things. the rich will pay more, the poor less. How simple does it have to be for "We the people" to take our power back.

They won't know what to talk about if they can't spend all their time taxing this little group here and that little one there. The taxes will come in the same or as I believe, MUCH GREATER and then all we have to do is get them to quit spending so much.

Also it doesn't go into effect until the Constutional revoking of the 16th amendment.

After spending 20 million dollars of researching how to collect the same amount of taxes in a less invasive way there are answers to your questions. or are ya'll intentionally doing your best to keep the power with the politicians?

as for the retired you will pay embedded taxes on goods till the day you die. This is just a more honest way.

[Sunnyflorida]

“On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.”

Income tax is on income not wealth. The vast majority of taxes are paid by a few. That is what is not fair. Taxes should be flat.

[dvan]

"Tax professionals generally regard the idea as impractical, regressive and even "crackpot," as one critic puts it..."

Of course they do. Do you think they want to be put out of business?

[Polybius]

" Tax professionals generally regard the idea as impractical, regressive and even "crackpot," as one critic puts it..."

They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.

Don't forget those of us who have worked hard all of our lives and have saved serious money because we do not want to be depending solely on Social Security when we retire.

The "Fair" Tax people have made no attempts to address the fact that those of us with substatial money saved outside of 401-K's, SEP's, etc. will have paid a hefty chunk of income taxes on that money when we earned it in 2007 and will then be expected to pay an additional 23% sales tax when we spend it under the "Fair" Tax in 200?.

When I have raised the issue before on Fair Tax threads, the response of the hard core Fair Tax advocates has boiled down to:

1. Nobody saves serious money anymore.

2. The Fair tax will magically make prices drop 23% so you will break out even.

If you, like the Grasshopper, have never saved any significant amount of money, have maxed out your credit cards and have home equity loan debt up to your eyeballs, the "Fair" Tax is a dream come true as you will have bought your stuff with borrowed, untaxed money and will be paying off that debt with untaxed money.

If you, like the Ants, have saved serious money and are debt free, Huckabee is asking you to pay an obscene percentage of tax so that the Grasshopper's can have the last laugh.

[from occupied ga]

They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.

You say this like it's a bad thing.

[Cracker Jack]

" Tax professionals generally regard the idea as impractical, regressive and even "crackpot," as one critic puts it..."

There is a little bit of "follow the money" that should be applied here. Fair tax would really disrupt the "tax professional" occupation. Many of them would be out of work. The rest would need to learn a whole new set of rules. Do you suppose this might influence their opinion of the Fair Tax?

They are right! On this tax the poorer you are the worse it hurts.

It is my understanding that rebates of the fair tax on the poverty level income would eliminate the regressive nature of the tax. With this in place, I don't understand how it hurts the "poor". They would pay no tax. Those a little better off than "poor" would.