CAVUTO REPORTS THAT BUSH CONSIDERING SCRAPPING THE IRS CODE!!!

Fox News Channel | November 6, 2002 | n/a

[Tree of Liberty]

Neil Cavuto just interviewed Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., the director of the OMB, and Neil let it be known that he's hearing rumblings that Pres. Bush is considering a total re-write of the tax code and that SecTreas O'Neill is strongly pushing a national retail sales tax!

[lelio]

A flat tax is better, preferably if we can keep the 401(k) and mortgage interest deductions to go with the personal exemptions.
And therein lies the rub. Why keep these exemptions around? Why should renters have to pay for your mortgage interest? What about my luxury 100' boat tax exemption, yada yada yada.
People like to talk about flattening the tax except when it comes to their personal ones. But that's human nature to protect what you have.

[mlo]

You are arguing whether it is an excise tax or not, but haven't said why it would be unconstitutional. Do you believe that only excise taxes are constitutional?

[TC Rider]

The thing I like about a NST or a flat tax, is the accountability factor.

As it is now, some lib can propose free pogo sticks to all children at a cost of billions, and no one can relate to the money.

With a NST or flat tax, combined with a balanced budget, the same lib can offer the pogo sticks, but, it will be clear that the NST is going up a half cent to pay for them.

When the tax paying citizens see how they're affected in their own wallet, we'll see more fiscally responsible congress critters.

[Bonaparte]

RST would be a step up from the income tax, but it too has some problems. Cheating is one, which is why the rate would have to be set fairly high and enforcement costs would be far from negligible.

[brewcrew]

Just for reference, Amendment XVI reads: "The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration."

You are correct, but it wouldn't be just some future Democrat that would start applying both a NRST and the 16th Amendment. There are plenty of tax and spend RINO's who would do the same thing.

Socialism: It's not just for Democrats anymore.

[DH]

What you don't realize is the fact that under a flat tax you report your income and then pay the tax due.  If you don't report your income you don't pay any tax.  Consequently, tax cheaters and those on the "underground econony" along with criminals and welfare cheats have a great opportunity to cheat us just like what's happening today.  Nothing will change under a flat tax.  The cheats and criminals will continue hiding income and law abiding citizens will continue paying their share of the unreported taxes.

Under the NRST EVERYONE PAYS THE TAX!  When you buy something you pay a tax.  It's fair because everyone, law abiding or not, criminal or tax cheat, prostitute or gambler all pay the same rate of tax every time they purchase ANYTHING!

[jimkress]

Trial Balloon.

Consideration does not equal action.

[aristeides]

Our income tax also discriminates against domestic production by not taxing foreign producers. If we keep the income tax, we ought at least to level the playing field by adding an equalizing tariff.

[Naspino]

A political move could be in play here. If Bush trys to actually get the 16th ammendment changed then you're talking about a HUGE platform to revise the tax code. Are Democrats going to take the stand that the tax code is alright? Who believes that? At the very least they have to cave in that the tax code needs major modification. Bush always works with compromise in mind -- start high and get part of what you want and that was when he didn't have majorities.

[kapj]

You are so right! I would like to see NO sales tax on houses or other properties.

[William McKinley]

You know something? He might get it, if he really wants it. How many Democrat Senate seats are coming up in 2002? After last night, if you were a Democrat, would you want to go into the election having filibustered the President's, THIS President's, plan to do away with the evil IRS?

I doubt this was more than just some idle chatter, but if this is a real trial balloon, WOW.

[aeronca]

bump

[Think free or die]

Please, let it be true!!!!! The income tax is choking us with paperwork, convoluted thinking, and just plain expense. I would be delighted to see a move toward taxing consumption, rather than income. This also strikes me as potentially favorable to retired people, whose earning opportunities are limited and whose consumption is typically lower.

[lelio]

he's getting screwed (48% income tax), and the middle classes are getting screwed
But your husband and his friends are reputable, I'm talking about the ones that went to the Worldcom school of ethics.
Flattening the tax an eliminating loopholes is one way of putting everyone on an even playing field.

[weikel]

No a flat tax wouldn't be better because a flat tax still lets the IRS destroy your life at the stroke of a pen.

[dead]

If Bush got this done, he would go on Mount Rushmore.

I’d carve it myself.

[Drewman626]

I see what you're saying. I'm a finance guy by trade and can tell you that us Financial Advisors and Estate Planners, as well as Accountants, would have more than two-thirds of our job responsibilities eliminated...


However...


There were always be State Income Tax... Deductions and pre-tax savings can be with the States still giving good reason to invest in 401K's and estate planning.

[aristeides]

Any passage of a national sales tax could be conditioned on the ratification of a constitutional amendment repealing the Sixteenth Amendment and rendering federal income taxes unconstitutional. The amendment could incorporate a phase-out provision so that we could have a transitional period during which we phase out the income tax and phase in the sales tax.

[agitator]

Constitutional authority for "sales" taxes are limited to excises. If the NRST is being billed as a "sales" tax, then the Constitutional definition of an excise applies.

[Jim Robinson]

Dump the income tax and the IRS! Implement a national sales tax!

This allows the taxpayer the choice of deciding when and how much tax he is willing to pay. Also sets a natural limit on the tax and therefoe on the size of the federal government. When the taxpayer actually pays the tax out of his own pocket (as opposed to having it deducted from his paycheck) he feels it. It hurts! He will scream bloody murder when it hurts too much.

And, just as important in my book, it gets the government out of our personal affairs, as in, "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated..."

The national sales tax eliminates the need for tax audits! Elimnate the IRS, Medicare and the Social Security TAX and get the federal government out of our lives!