Replies

Dude, I may have gotten you confused with another poster "Congressman Billybob" as best I recall who purports to be a member of the gang of 435 (Congress) and routinely posts nonsense about how wonderful gimmint is.

Putting that -- and your clear SELF-INTEREST (HOW STATESMANLIKE OF YOU!) -- aside, try giving me a rational reason to oppose the NRST REPLACEMENT for the income tax.

BTE, we just love it when you talk dirty.

I apologize for my previous outburst. It just hit me the wrong way at the wrong time. First, let me say my primary objection to any twiddling with the tax code is that every time they purport to do something to improve it, they make it worse. Second, I've already paid about %50 taxes on everything I've managed to earn in my life, now I'm supposed to pay even more taxes when I go to spend what I've managed to hang onto?

If you check up on this thread you'll find that I'm willing to consider the notion of a NRST, but there are serious concerns that need to be addressed, including the concerns of retirees and people halfway through their careers. How is this going to impact them?

Also, at one point I invited Wille Green to post a summation of his objections to the NRST, which he was kind enough to do. His summation included some very reasonable concerns.

If you want to reduce the size of the government, fine by me. Fire the IRS, wonderful, go for it. Just please don't come up with a scheme where you plan to have the government stick the vacuum nozzle up my bank account and hoover out even more of my savings when they already got HALF while I was earning it in the first place. Alright?

One other, purely cynical thought. Have you noticed the "time of year"? It's just before the serious public manuevering for political office is going on in the national parties. The Democrats are publicly and frantically trying to find a viable candidate.

Meanwhile, GWB just happen to toss a nice fresh piece of red meat out for all of the paleoconservatives to chew on, floating a "trial-balloon" about possibly getting rid of the income tax. Now any potential "hard-right" candidates just got one of their favorite issues co-opted, assimilated in the current administrations platform while actually having no chance of being implemented. The thunder of a potential challenger is muted, the hard right are momentarily mollified, and the Bush juggernaut steams on.