Posted on 10/19/2011 9:19:20 AM PDT by sickoflibs
Now that President Obama and the Democrats have generated a projected record $10 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, they are now singing their favorite song: We must raise taxes!
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., sent the first signal a few weeks ago when he said paying taxes is the price we pay for living in this great country. Never mind that we are paying too much and that too much of our money is being wasted.
One of the president's senior economic advisers, Paul Volcker, said recently in a speech that "we must raise taxes" to deal with the deficit. Never mind that the administration and the Democrats made an already bad deficit situation worse, and never mind that they were aware of the situation before they jammed the disastrous health-care bill through Congress for the president's signature.
It is outrageous that they have played the taxpayers for the sucker punch of the century. They ignored the coming deficits of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while passing the massive health-care bill. To make matters worse, Mr. Volcker is suggesting the dreaded value-added-tax, also called a VAT tax.
Please insert the scream of your choice right here if you already know the implications of a new VAT on this country. Otherwise, keep reading.
A VAT is not a single new tax. It is several new sneak-a-taxes. It taxes each phase in the development of a product or service until it is ultimately sold to the end user, and you also pay any applicable retail sales taxes. These intermediate taxes are passed along to the consumer and are reflected as a net increase in the price of the goods or service.
The doubly outrageous aspect of the VAT is that it is on top of all the other state and federal taxes we pay. Paul Volcker and the Democrats like the VAT because it is hidden from the clueless and uninformed voter, who will forget about it soon after it is passed if it is passed.
The VAT is also a cowardly tax increase because these same clueless and uninformed voters will easily blame the greedy retailers for raising the prices of their merchandise. And for the 50 percent of the taxpayers who have figured out how not to pay any taxes at all, this administration and Congress will find a way to give them a VAT exemption.
Just as Obamacare puts this country a giant step closer to becoming the United States of Europe, passage of a VAT would certainly seal the deal as the New Europe, which would be nearly impossible to undo. I said nearly impossible, not completely.
The answer to reducing the deficit and supercharging the economy is to replace the tax code with the single-rate Fair Tax(National Sales Tax). This solution assumes, however, that there is no continued increase in federal spending. With this administration and Democrat-controlled Congress, stopping the spending is completely impossible.
Obama and the Democrats in Congress would never consider the answer to reducing the debt and stimulating the economy I just proposed, because it does not achieve their goals of a government power grab, expanding the role of government in our lives or creating more social programs for the clueless and the uninformed so they will continue to elect and re-elect liberal Democrats to Congress and the White House.
Never mind what We the People want, but we will remember in November.
You are part of the lineman push, helping to get the ball carrier over the defensive wall and into the end zone!
Btw, do you think those guys will be along shortly?
:)
Also, now that you have posted it, we can crosslink this as appropriate as this issue comes up again. (It will.)
One of the things I easily predicted HERE last summer 2010 is that if Boehner takes the House from Pelosi the Tea Party will lose some momentum and energy and the other side will gain it in opposition as you see now.
Similarly I posted ~ April 2008 that Obama would win the election and become very unpopular fast in 2009. There is a certain natural dynamics to politics much like a run up in prices in an economy, then a crash.
That’s how I was reading it. ;-)
Well, I disagree that there is any subjectivity or difficulty in determining “value-added”.
A business simply charges it’s customers a percentage of the price of the product it sells, and subtracts the VAT taxes it has paid in making the product (which are just a percentage of the cost of the goods it purchased to make the product). The difference is remitted to the government.
You may be right about that.
My experience with VAT, such as it is, was in Europe.
Anyway, I think we agree that the 999 plan does away with embedded taxes in the price of goods?
A value added tax or value-added tax (VAT) is a form of consumption tax. From the perspective of the buyer, it is a tax on the purchase price. From that of the seller, it is a tax only on the "value added" to a product, material or service, from an accounting point of view, by this stage of its manufacture or distribution. The manufacturer remits to the government the difference between these two amounts, and retains the rest for themselves to offset the taxes they had previously paid on the inputs.
The "value added" to a product by a business is the sale price charged to its customer, minus the cost of materials and other taxable inputs. A VAT is like a sales tax in that ultimately only the end consumer is taxed. It differs from the sales tax in that, with the latter, the tax is collected and remitted to the government only once, at the point of purchase by the end consumer. With the VAT, collections, remittances to the government, and credits for taxes already paid occur each time a business in the supply chain purchases products.
The difference is in the incentives that a sales tax provides for people to cheat, and the additional paperwork required to keep track of VAT taxes paid.
But, all other things equal, a sales tax and a VAT tax, at the same rate, would produce the same tax revenue and the same gross margins.
I agree about the hidden taxes being removed.
And I like the incentive that a sales tax provides consumers to save money (for investment or retirement) instead of spending it.
I been calling for that HERE for a few years now, that is how you control raising taxes:
1) Make them visible
2) Make most voters pay them(Ron Paul misses this completely) .
Now we just got to get Herman to point that out in a debate :)
Amazing watching the other Republican candidates defend the current tax system, no it's pathetic.
Up yours, FRiend.
I like Michele Bachmann, but as a tax attorney she has hereby disqualified herself. She either isn't very bright or she is dishonest. I know most people are woefully ignorant of how taxes work (I am too, but I'm trying to learn) but for a tax attorney not to know removes her from my list.
9-9-9 Calculators.
—Amazing watching the other Republican candidates defend the current tax system, no it’s pathetic.—
Makes me think of this email I got today. It is allegedly Charlie Rees’s last collumn:
545 vs. 300,000,000 People
-by Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?
Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?
You and I don’t propose a federal budget. The President does.
You and I don’t have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.
You and I don’t write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don’t set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don’t control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.
One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one President, and nine Supreme Court justices equates to 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.
I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.
I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a President to do one cotton-picking thing. I don’t care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator’s responsibility to determine how he votes.
Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits.. The President can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.
The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House now? He is the leader of the majority party. He and fellow House members, not the President, can approve any budget they want. If the President vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.
It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted — by present facts — of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can’t think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.
If the tax code is unfair, it’s because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it’s because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in Iraq and Afghanistan it’s because they want them in Iraq and Afghanistan ...
If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it’s because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.
Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like “the economy,” “inflation,” or “politics” that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.
Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.
They, and they alone, have the power.
They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees...
We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!
What you do with this article now that you have read it is up to you. This might be funny if it weren’t so true.
Tax his land,
Tax his bed,
Tax the table,
At which he’s fed.
Tax his tractor,
Tax his mule,
Teach him taxes
Are the rule.
Tax his work,
Tax his pay,
He works for
peanuts anyway!
Tax his cow,
Tax his goat,
Tax his pants,
Tax his coat.
Tax his ties,
Tax his shirt,
Tax his work,
Tax his dirt.
Tax his tobacco,
Tax his drink,
Tax him if he
Tries to think.
Tax his cigars,
Tax his beers,
If he cries
Tax his tears.
Tax his car,
Tax his gas,
Find other ways
To tax his ass.
Tax all he has
Then let him know
That you won’t be done
Till he has no dough.
When he screams and hollers;
Then tax him some more,
Tax him till
He’s good and sore.
Then tax his coffin,
Tax his grave,
Tax the sod in
Which he’s laid...
Put these words
Upon his tomb,
‘Taxes drove me
to my doom....’
When he’s gone,
Do not relax,
It’s time to apply
The inheritance tax.
Accounts Receivable Tax
Building Permit Tax
CDL license Tax
Cigarette Tax
Corporate Income Tax
Dog License Tax
Excise Taxes
Federal Income Tax
Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA)
Fishing License Tax
Food License Tax
Fuel Permit Tax
Gasoline Tax (currently 44.75 cents per gallon)
Gross Receipts Tax
Hunting License Tax
Inheritance Tax
Inventory Tax
IRS Interest Charges IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax)
Liquor Tax
Luxury Taxes
Marriage License Tax
Medicare Tax
Personal Property Tax
Property Tax
Real Estate Tax
Service Charge Tax
Social Security Tax
Road Usage Tax
Recreational Vehicle Tax
Sales Tax
School Tax
State Income Tax
State Unemployment Tax (SUTA)
Telephone Federal Excise Tax
Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax
Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Taxes
Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax
Telephone Recurring and Nonrecurring Charges Tax
Telephone State and Local Tax
Telephone Usage Charge Tax
Utility Taxes
Vehicle License Registration Tax
Vehicle Sales Tax
Watercraft Registration Tax
Well Permit Tax
Workers Compensation Tax
STILL THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago, & our nation was the most prosperous in the world. We had absolutely no national debt, had the largest middle class in the world, and Mom, if agreed, stayed home to raise the kids.
What in the heck happened? Can you spell ‘politicians?’
And he is still for the Fair Tax and against a Vat so what is the news here.
I would be concerned with Michelle Bauchman as my tax attorney if she can't understand the Cain plan.
I wish candidates would promote their agenda and not attack those that are leading in the polls.
On thing I have admired about Herman Cain is that he has never viciously attacked the platform of another GOP candidate - or - used the debate to lie about another candidates position.
Not another one, see
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