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Fine, what was your wife’s direct total tax liability last year as a percentage of sales? 2 percent? 4 percent?

To reach the, yes, mythical 23% inclusive ‘Fair Tax’ rate, the average small business, which operates on a keystone profit scheme, would have to pay well over 18% of it’s gross sales in taxes. That means a small business that does $400,000 in sales would have to have to pay $72,000 in taxes on $200,000 gross profit.

You conveniently forgot to mention that the FairTax first strips out all other Federal Taxes, a mistake commonly made by those who have not thoroughly read the FairTax Plan. Your trying to obfuscate the issue by zeroing in on only the sales taxes (5% here in Virginia) without considering all the other Federal level taxes small businesses have to pay is nothing less than disingenious.

Also, your claim that the FairTax taxes profit is completely incorrect. Nowhere in the plan is there any provision for taxing profit. Only the retail sales are taxed.

But to get back to the main point of my original post, businesses do not simply eat their tax liabilities. They pass the taxes along to the customer in the prices of the goods and services offered and when the customer pays, they don't see the taxes. Hence, the hidden, embedded taxes.

You conveniently forgot to mention that the FairTax first strips out all other Federal Taxes, a mistake commonly made by those who have not thoroughly read the FairTax Plan.

Thank you for calling me stupid and illiterate. I have read the FairTax plan cover to cover, including the reporting requirements, the bonding requirements, the first year adaptation credits, etc. I know exactly what the FairTax plan eliminates.

Your trying to obfuscate the issue by zeroing in on only the sales taxes (5% here in Virginia) without considering all the other Federal level taxes small businesses have to pay is nothing less than disingenious.

No one but you mentioned state taxes which have absolutely no connection to the federal FairTax plan. What is your wife's business' total tax liability in relation to her gross yearly sales. Just the percentage. Take the tax she's paying this year, divide it by her gross sales, and tell us what the percentage is. Don't give us her numbers, we don't need it, just tell us the number. This isn't rocket science.

Also, your claim that the FairTax taxes profit is completely incorrect. Nowhere in the plan is there any provision for taxing profit. Only the retail sales are taxed.

Again, you made the assumption I was connecting to profit, I was giving an example of how high taxes on business would have to be to come up with the mythical 'savings' that would be 'passed on to consumers' to keep prices the same including the FairTax after the first year credits have run out.

But to get back to the main point of my original post, businesses do not simply eat their tax liabilities. They pass the taxes along to the customer in the prices of the goods and services offered and when the customer pays, they don't see the taxes. Hence, the hidden, embedded taxes.

Every business plan I have ever examined, taxes are a very minor line item and are overshadowed by costs for rent, cost of goods, advertising, etc. Payroll taxes are a small percentage of the overall cost of employees, and employees in any business but a service type business (Food service, repair service) are a lower percentage of cost than cost of goods sold.

Please do not put words in my mouth, assume I haven't read the plan, assume I'm an idiot - yes, I know how attractive this plan is to employees - something for nothing! They get (most) of their paycheck, plus a monthly prebate check, and everything works out because the prices remain the same. Most comfortable are those who have mortgages or outright own their home right now.

Personal comfort aside, anyone who is truly going to argue the pro should examine their own close situation to figure out how it will affect them - like knowing your wife's business tax liability, so you can point to it and say, "She pays (x) percent of her total sales to the federal government now, she can take that off her prices and people will save (x) percent off!"