[BRL]

Keeping 100% of your income is the very premise behind the Fair Tax. Perhaps she's been doing some homework on consumption taxation. The question was a loaded one, designed to provide cannon fodder for the media. I thought she evaded that damage skillfully if not eloquently.

The problem with our government is not how we collect our taxes. It is that we are taxed too much. How much is too much? I don't know. Maybe we could cut federal spending by 1/3 and cut taxes by 10%. However, Michelle Bachmann believes that there should be no taxes collected whatsoever. She said so in the debate, and she is an idiot.

[so_real]

However, Michelle Bachmann believes that there should be no taxes collected whatsoever. She said so in the debate, and she is an idiot.

She did not say that no taxes should be collected whatsoever. She said :

And after the debate, I talked to that young man, and I said I wish I could have answered that question, because I want to tell you what my answer is: I think you earned every dollar. You should get to keep every dollar that you earn. That's your money; that's not the government's money.

You may choose to believe it or not, but in a consumption tax scenario that is exactly what happens. You keep every dollar you earn. You agree to employment at a given wage or salary and your paycheck reflects that given wage or salary each and every pay period untaxed. It is only when you spend your money that your purchases are taxed. She spoke specifically about keeping earnings; she made no mention of doing away with all taxation. If you didn't get that, it's okay. But that doesn't make her answer wrong. It only means she failed to reach you communicatively and needs to try a different route. Michele Bachmann is no idiot. She is one of the few genuine representatives of We the People that exist in Congress. One of the very few that had courage enough to hold the line during the Boehner Bill Debacle. I admire her greatly, and for good reason.