OK ... STAND BY FOR ME TO GO BALLISTIC ABOUT FAIRTAX OPPONENTS

NEALZ NUZE ^ | April 10, 2008 | NEAL BOORTZ

[Mr. Jeeves]

...households earning under $50,000.00 a year pay NO taxes Federal or state.

It was in part Reagan's push toward that latter goal that got us in this mess. People who pay no taxes have no stake in the outcome of their voting decisions and are free to support every irresponsible demagogue who promises to reward them with free money. Everyone should pay, all the way down to zero.

[higgmeister]

Only the manner of collection is different...

That is the biggest only in the world. Christmas is only a holiday. Baseball and golf are only games.

The IRS will be gone, defunct, kaput, finito. No more self-aggrandizing bureaucrats empowered by government, yet with no constitutional authorization, to subjectively or arbitrarily adjudicate citizens. the FairTax will bring open and obvious tax collection that will reveal the true cost of government on our lives.

[Turret Gunner A20]

The biggest problem with the Fair Tax is that the politicians and bureaucrats are too heavily invested in the current power structure to allow it.

Here is why -- and the article shows how it can be fixed:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1994419/posts

It is up to the voters to get off their butts and vote the rascls out.

[lewislynn]

yet with no constitutional authorization, to subjectively or arbitrarily adjudicate citizens.

NEWS FLASH! The Fairtax doesn't repeal the 16th if that's what you're getting at.

the FairTax will bring open and obvious tax collection that will reveal the true cost of government on our lives.

Right. The same people that never look at their check stubs or tax returns will be blown away with:
Increased take home pay.
Prices the same as now or lower, including the tax.
More money for savings.
Reduced interest rates.
Easier to buy a home.
A government check in the mail every month.

Or maybe those promises aren't really true.

Which is the lie?

[higgmeister]

How many times have you seen this by now?

From Congressman Linder's Web Page:

Q:

Once the FairTax is passed and becomes law, what protection is there against a reinstitution of the income tax at a later date?

A:

The short answer is that you the voter are always the best defense against new taxes, old taxes, and any tax in between. Even so, the FairTax does envision even more protections being built into the language and the law of the FairTax itself.

The Sixteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, gave the Congress explicit authority to enact income taxes, because the Supreme Court ruled, in its 1895 Pollack v. Farmer's Loan Company decision, that such direct income taxes were unconstitutional. While some legal scholars argue that an income tax could have been legal even in the absence of the Sixteenth Amendment, I certainly believe that the repeal of the Amendment is an important symbolic and functional step in returning power over taxation to the people.

If the FairTax is enacted, I expect that the Congress and states would promptly begin consideration of legislation to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. To make certain that occurs, however, I am in favor of adding language to H.R. 25 during the 110th Congress that includes a sunset provision, meaning that either we succeed in repealing the Sixteenth Amendment within 5 years after the implementation of the FairTax or the FairTax goes away. In my view, we simply cannot risk having both a national income tax and a national sales tax in place at the same time.

H.R. 25, however, cannot include legislative text that itself repeals the Sixteenth Amendment. To become law, the FairTax simply needs a simple majority approval by both the House and Senate and the signature of the President. A repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment requires a House Joint Resolution (H.J. Res) and the approval by two-thirds of the U.S. House, two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, and three quarters of the 50 states--the standard that all constitutional amendments must meet for passage. Therefore, we must move legislation that repeals the Sixteenth Amendment separately from H.R. 25.

Q:

Does the FairTax repeal the 16th Amendment?

A:

Yes, the FairTax plan does foresee the repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment, but, no, procedurally the repeal cannot be included in the text of H.R 25. Let me explain. The Sixteenth Amendment, which was ratified in 1913, gave the Congress explicit authority to enact income taxes, because the Supreme Court ruled, in its 1895 Pollack v. Farmer’s Loan Company decision, that such direct income taxes were unconstitutional. While some legal scholars argue that an income tax could have been legal even in the absence of the Sixteenth Amendment, I certainly believe that the repeal of the Amendment is an important symbolic and functional step in returning power over taxation to the people. The FairTax, H.R. 25, cannot include legislative text to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. To become law, the FairTax simply needs a simple majority approval by both the House and Senate and the signature of the President. A repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment requires a House Joint Resolution (H.J. Res) and the approval by two-thirds of the U.S. House, two-thirds of the U.S. Senate, and three quarters of the 50 states--the standard that all constitutional amendments must meet for passage. Therefore, we must move legislation that repeals the Sixteenth Amendment separately from H.R. 25. If the FairTax is enacted, I expect that the Congress and states would promptly begin consideration of legislation to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment. To make certain that occurs, however, I am in favor of adding language to H.R. 25 during the 111th Congress that includes a sunset provision, meaning that either we succeed in repealing the Sixteenth Amendment within 5 years after the implementation of the FairTax or the FairTax goes away. In my view, we simply cannot risk having both a national income tax and a national sales tax in place at the same time.

This is from the author of the bill, yet you still posture and parse selectively without even trying to honestly consider the proposal.

[lewislynn]

How many times have you seen this by now?

Actually I've never seen it and it's less than worthless...AND, nothing there changes the fact that the Fairtax bill (HR25) DOES NOT REPEAL THE 16TH AMENDMENT.

This is from the author of the bill, yet you still posture and parse selectively without even trying to honestly consider the proposal.

Apparently I'm the only one who knows what the proposal really says. Anything Linder says on his website is nothing more than him "posturing" and your wishful thinking his website is "a proposal".

BTW, he's not the author of the bill, only the stooge sponsor....He's not smart enough to author a tax bill.

[higgmeister]

Actually I've never seen it and it's less than worthless...AND, nothing there changes the fact that the Fairtax bill (HR25) DOES NOT REPEAL THE 16TH AMENDMENT.

Neither Congressman Linder nor Neal Boortz ever told you it did "REPEAL THE 16TH AMENDMENT."   There is no subterfuge, yet you and your ilk bring that up at every opportunity as if someone was telling lies to dupe people into working to implement the FairTax. The mendaciousness doesn't come from Boortz or Linder. It is obvious who the mudslingers are.

[lewislynn]

Neither Congressman Linder nor Neal Boortz ever told you it did

I never said they did...You did, or tried to, so now you're back peddling.

[foxfield]

The FairTax is an interesting idea and certainly better than our current psuedo-Marxist model, but it’s not the long term answer IMHO.

What do you suggest is the long term answer?

[Turret Gunner A20]

Which is the lie?

Just about everything you post.

Any more stupid questions?

[MarcB]

One thing I keep seeing missed by the retirees is that most of the money that has been saved, has been saved in tax deferred accounts set up for retirement. This fact just seems to be passed by when talking about the Fair Tax beating up on retirees. No tax has been paid on those savings yet! So most of this argument goes out the window to start with. Now with the fair tax, they still won't have to pay the income tax on the monies brought out of all these tax deferred accounts to start with, so this money IS NOT being taxed twice like some skeptics like to scream that it is.

[Turret Gunner A20]

If that’s your only reason for not investigating the FairTax any further, then it is obvious that you lack the capacity to understnd it even if you did look into it in depth.

[foxfield]

...because of this writers offensive column and your mean post, I have decided to be against the fair tax from now on...

That's a really lame excuse.

This FairTax issue is controversial and contentious. There are many who have, or think they have, a vested interest in the current system. Many will say and do anything to stop open and fair discussions of the issue. Sadly, it is hard to resist retaliation in kind when they start with personal attacks. Stick around and you might see what I mean.

That having been said, you really owe it to yourself to keep an open mind and to make your decision on the merits, or lack of thereof, not because of distasteful comments made by others.

[Principled]

The Fairtax replaces income tax dollar for dollar, the base is the same...income.

Oh my. This parallels your finest.

The bases are not the same. I really can't believe you just said that.

[Principled]

The income tax has as its base income.

The nrst has as its base retail consumption spending.

Those bases are not the same.

Further, the base of retail consumption spending is significantly larger than the base of income. So it is trivially obvious that a lower rate on consumption is possible.

[longtermmemmory]

I think the “22 million” is some sort of present day tax dodge expense ala algore’s selling of carbon credits to himself. Only speculation but it seems substantiated based on the lack of actual thought and practicality of the HR 25 document.

Seems Neil is just recycling the same old same old.

We need a DIFFERENT proposal, this fairtax scam is doa.

[foxfield]

We need a DIFFERENT proposal, this fairtax scam is doa.

Two questions. Do you have a different proposal in mind? What about the FairTax makes you think it is a scam?

[Rob112586]

Abolish the Federal income tax completely, along with the Federal Reserve and a ton of domestic spending and entitlement programs. Of course, this is a LONG LONG LONG term hope and considering the GOP is just the pro-war liberal party while the DNC is the anti-war liberal party we’ll never see any sort of true tax or currency reform.

[Nebr FAL owner]

Since when has it been mean to encourage others who admit they are uninformed on a topic to study & then make an informed decision ???? Boortz has a right to be annoyed ! He is lied about by people who have a stake in the current cl*st*rf*ck of a tax system & by pundits & newspaper editorial writers who literally were to lazy to do even a google search on the background of the fair tax .

[MarcB]

Agreed sadly the fairtax won’t come into being until we have economic crisis that will leave this country looking like the Weimar Republic.

If I’m not mistaken we are there now!