Wrong!
The FairTax is an excise tax, an indirect tax on retail goods and services.
The Rebate is the same for every American and is not a tax.
The Rebate says in effect that Americans will pay no tax on goods and services that they deem essential for living and that is measured in dollars calculated by the DHHS line of poverty, a well-seasoned and means tested calculation.
To reemphasize the FairTax Rebate IS THE SAME FOR EVERY AMERICAN and hence no redistribution takes place among more than 99$% of the population. The only persons undeservedly benefitting from the Rebate are those who are bums, homeless and panhandlers and they constitute less than 1% of the population.
People on Social Security will receive a rebate equal to 23% of the poverty line or about $196 a month, But so will billionaires.
Every American individual will receive $196 a month to rebate them for the 23% National Retail Sale Tax they paid on $10,294 (the poverty level) of purchases over a year. That’s NOT REDISTRIBUTION. The money is not coming from wealthier earners. It is coming from each individual’s essential purchases and being given back to them so that in effect:
No One In America Pays Taxes Below the Poverty Level.
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_faq
Another website has already broken down how the so called Fair Tax is also unconstitutional...If I remember correctly it falls apart uniformity-wise or would head that way when challenged in court.
Poverty level in CA is not the same as poverty level in MO. The rebate becomes an “unequal” application of the law. If you turn around and adjust accordingly - then uniformity falls apart.
Still want to sell the Fair-Tax? Well consider this: Trying to read and comprehend the Rebate thingy was like trying to read IRS published schedules, guides, deductions, credits, etc., all over again.
If it was simply about EVERYONE paying a fixed %-age for final retail sales point of goods (not services) and nothing more - no exceptions, no deductions, or threshold crap - I’d give it some serious thought.
=8-)