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WHY THE FAIRTAX WON'T WORK
NCPA ^ | 2/15/2008 | NCAP staff

Posted on 02/16/2008 3:30:21 PM PST by xcamel

One solution to the nation's long-term fiscal problems that has gained support in recent years is the idea of replacing all federal taxes with a 23 percent national retail sales tax called the FairTax. Unfortunately, the administrative problems inherent in this proposal make it impossible to take seriously, says Bruce Bartlett, former deputy assistant secretary for economic policy at the U.S. Treasury Department.

For example, under a FairTax scheme: A worker now netting $800 per week would immediately get a $200 raise and start taking home the full $1,000 gross wage that he is paid; instead of paying income and payroll taxes, workers would pay their taxes when they buy things.
The FairTax would impose a 23 percent tax on all goods and services (this is not really correct, but for now we'll accept it at face value for analytical purposes).

Whether he is better off or not depends on what his effective tax rate is: Assuming he spends all his income and no more than that, he will be no worse off if he now pays 23 percent of his income in taxes. That is, his effective tax rate is 23 percent; in this case, the FairTax is a wash, the worker is no better off or worse off in terms of taxes than he is now.

But what if the worker is now paying less than 23 percent of his income in federal taxes? In this case, he is clearly worse off, says Bartlett: The prices of the things he buys will rise by more than his income rises from the elimination of income and payroll taxes. Conversely, if one is wealthy and in a tax bracket above 23 percent, that person would be much better off. His income and payroll taxes would fall by much more than the prices of goods and services he consumes would rise.

Source: Bruce Bartlett, "Why the FairTax Won't Work," Tax Notes, December 24, 2007.

For text:

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TOPICS: Editorial; Government
KEYWORDS: fairtax; tax; taxreform
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To: Mojave

YAWN ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


441 posted on 02/17/2008 9:54:02 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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To: Hostage
That's an authoritative source?

Here's a quote from Hostage's link

That was the end of the Whiskey Rebellion although, if memory serves, the excise tax was either repealed or (unlike the whiskey) diluted.

Seems the author is a little fuzzy by his own admission.

442 posted on 02/17/2008 9:54:16 AM PST by lucysmom
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To: lucysmom
That was the position of the founding fathers - but never mind.

You seem to imply that was the position of ALL of the Founders.

Since you seem to be familiar with the Founding Fathers then you probably know that there were many violent disagreements between them.

"The simplest system of taxation yet adopted is that of levying on the land and the laborer. But it would be better to levy the same sums on the produce of that labor when collected in the barn of the farmer; because then if through the badness of the year he made little, he would pay little. It would be better yet to levy it only on the surplus of this produce above his own wants. It would be better, too, to levy it, not in his hands, but in those of the purchaser; because though the farmer would in fact pay it, as the purchaser must deduct it from the original price of his produce yet the farmer would not be sensible that he paid it... What a comfort to the farmer to be allowed to supply his own wants before he should be liable to pay anything, and then to pay only out of his surplus." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1784. Papers 7:558

It doesn't sound like Jefferson was in favor of only the top wage earners being taxed. Actually, it sounds like he was in favor of a sales tax.........but never mind.

443 posted on 02/17/2008 9:56:50 AM PST by cowboyway ("No damn man kills me and lives." -- Nathan Bedford Forrest)
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To: xcamel
Proof positive that the only defense of the FT is incessant blistering personal attacks.

Yeahg, we've noticed how you blockheads start off your hijacking of every FT thread like that -- or a feeble, infantile attempt at insults.

444 posted on 02/17/2008 9:57:53 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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To: lewislynn
Because you can only purchase $70 worth of product, the rest is tax.

What are talking about?

My example was of an individual earning $100/hr but only seeing $70/hr after the imposition of the graduated income tax.

445 posted on 02/17/2008 9:59:52 AM PST by cowboyway ("No damn man kills me and lives." -- Nathan Bedford Forrest)
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To: Hostage
From Hostage's link

1895: The US Supreme Court ruled that the income tax law was unconstitutional.

1913: In February the 16th Amendment, which states "Congress shall have the power to lay and collect tax on incomes, from whatever sources derived, without apportionment among the several states, and without regard to any census or enumeration", was ratified by the necessary 3/4 of the states. On October 3rd Congress passed the Revenue Act of 1913, which created the first permanent US income tax.

The Court decision that ruled against the income tax in 1895 overturned 100 years of precedence. The response to that decision was the passage of the 16th amendment in 1913 - a space of 18 years, not 50.

446 posted on 02/17/2008 10:02:16 AM PST by lucysmom
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To: raisetheroof

Anything I repeat anything - is better than the IRS—a bloated parallel police state within this nation.


447 posted on 02/17/2008 10:03:55 AM PST by eleni121 (+ En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great)
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To: Mojave
Why is that?

Why don't you tell us? You posted it to me in your post # 163. And I just agreed with you-- FOR ONCE.

448 posted on 02/17/2008 10:04:04 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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To: mad_as_he$$

ANYTHING is better than the lunacy we have now.


449 posted on 02/17/2008 10:04:29 AM PST by eleni121 (+ En Touto Nika! By this sign conquer! + Constantine the Great)
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To: lucysmom

FTer numbers tend to be flexible.


450 posted on 02/17/2008 10:04:47 AM PST by Mojave
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To: eleni121

Oh if it were only true...


451 posted on 02/17/2008 10:05:20 AM PST by xcamel (Two-hand-voting now in play - One on lever, other holding nose.)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

Tell you why FTers misrepresent the tax percentage?

Easy. They’ve got plenty to hide.


452 posted on 02/17/2008 10:06:31 AM PST by Mojave
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To: xcamel

High taxes and out of control entitlement spending is bad, so higher taxes and even more entitlement spending is better.

FT logic in a nutshell.


453 posted on 02/17/2008 10:08:31 AM PST by Mojave
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To: xcamel
Seems those folks that didn’t even have indoor plumbing new quite about the FT. Go figure..

How FairTaxers can claim their tax scheme complies with the vision of the founding fathers, with a clear conscience, is beyond me.

454 posted on 02/17/2008 10:09:33 AM PST by lucysmom
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To: mad_as_he$$
They know it anyway and the FT is not going to make that go away.

The FAir Tax won't, but if I move or those conditions change, and I don't give them an up- date, then they won't know unless I want them to.

No matter how hard you close your eyes and cover your ears.

Despite your compu;siove drive to insult me, I have done neither. YOU rew the one guilty of those two actions, not me. You don't know t=what you are talking about, and adamantly refuse to learn.

Right now the FBI wants to have facial, retinal and DNA on every citizen! And you know what they are going to get it so what is your point.

What in the hell has that got to do with the Fair Tax?????

455 posted on 02/17/2008 10:20:19 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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To: Turret Gunner A20

diffeent = different


456 posted on 02/17/2008 10:25:45 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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To: cowboyway
Since you seem to be familiar with the Founding Fathers then you probably know that there were many violent disagreements between them.

Absolutely! It is always amusing when anyone claims the founding father stamp of approval for whatever scheme he has in mind.

It doesn't sound like Jefferson was in favor of only the top wage earners being taxed. Actually, it sounds like he was in favor of a sales tax.........but never mind.

Here's another Jefferson quote:

"The rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the General Government are levied... Our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, and its surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spend a cent from his earnings." --Thomas Jefferson to Thaddeus Kosciusko, 1811.

Here's another

"Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1785.

...but never mind.

457 posted on 02/17/2008 10:26:44 AM PST by lucysmom
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To: lucysmom

Oh I see! I guess you decided to omit this little fact from the link posted:

“1861: Congress passed the first income tax law as an emergency measure to fund the Civil War.”

Try again. It’s good advertising for my side.


458 posted on 02/17/2008 10:26:52 AM PST by Hostage
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To: lucysmom

Now everyone can see what you are. It matters not what the subject is. We can see what you are.


459 posted on 02/17/2008 10:28:28 AM PST by Hostage
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To: Turret Gunner A20
compu;siove - compulsive

t=what = what

460 posted on 02/17/2008 10:32:44 AM PST by Turret Gunner A20 (of the)
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