Posted on 11/03/2004 10:42:24 AM PST by tgusa
"I'm not exactly sure how big the national sales tax is going to have to be, but it's kind of an interesting idea that we ought to explore seriously," the president said. The next day administration officials said Bush was not considering such a reform.
John Kerry's campaign quickly condemned a national sales tax, and Bush for potentially supporting it.
“If [Bush] has his way, every trip to the supermarket will feel like a visit to H&R Block and every day will be April 15. And now that this plan has been exposed, George W. Bush is trying to mislead the public into thinking it was just an off-the-cuff comment," Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said in an Aug. 12 statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I agree. I'm dealing with an audit right now. It is not a pleasurable experience.
They need to call this not the NST, but call it the "screw the anyone who saved some money tax."
Include a Sales tax and we can even the tax burden and eliminate the loopholes.
Understood. I did get A's in economics and accounting in grad school. What I am talking about is that I have already been taxed and now I would get taxed again on my saving when I spend them in the future. My whole problem with this idea (and I DO want to like it) is that it is a lousy deal for those of us who have worked hard and saved some money for our old age.
My savings.
Are fed auditors going to come around and demand 27% of my garage sale and e-bay receipts?
You need to do some research. Only new items sold at retail are taxed. Your garage sale items you sell aren't taxable. It's clear that you have an agenda other than trying to educate yourself to the greater benefits of an NRST over a flat tax and way more than the income tax.
Freedom calls for being able to choose to say no to a tax -- the retail tax, don't buy retail -- because you choose an alternative wherein you aren't required to pay the tax; compared to not being forced with threats of jail and financial ruin if you fail to pay the income tax. Even if you pay the income tax the IRS has a history of abusing people that have paid their income tax.
See my post # 76.
I second that emotion!
A national sales tax would mean more IRS enforcement agents not less. The amount of cheating in a system like would be immense.
DON'T LOOK TO 2008!!
We have work to do now. Just because the GOP won big, our work is not over. It has just started. We know this administration did not do much of what they promised to do in the last 4 years.
We must press our reps for immigration reform, limited government and remember, both the Speaker and Bush talked of eliminated the IRS (I would be happy with just getting rid of the income tax in favor of a sales tax).
We also should hold him to tort reform - his promise.
Don't look too far ahead. Politicians will be politicians if we still idly by.
I'd prefer a flat tax of 12.4 percent--the same amount Teresa Heinz-Kerry pays on her billions.
So why not institute a flat tax instead?
That was what the first income tax bill called for, didn't last a single session of congress till the put it on steroids.
The problem of an income tax is not in the structure of its rates, its in the fact that government gets into the act of defining income. That is what takes that 60k pages of paper to describe and requires a gestapo IRS to administer and enforce.
You may have paid some taxes on the interest of what you saved. What we're saying here is that you would no longer have to pay taxes on what you earn. Certainly you paid taxes on that money you earned in order to save some, and yes, you will be taxed again on it when you spend that saved money on retail/consumer spending. Folks that are living on money they saved (say retirement money) will have to have some sort of exemptions. I believe fairtax.org explains this. I'm not sure if HR 25 says anything about it.
C'mon - the amount of cheating NOW is immense. There just has to be a better way than the IRS.
There'd be blank stares from politicians and bureaucrats.... Before they ran for the hills.
Savings that you've already accumulated or future savings?
You already ARE being taxed when you spend money after you save it. The nrst doesn't increase the tax you pay when you purchase things... it just makes the tax visible and apparent on the receipt.
Already accumulated savings.
I make pottery in my garage that I sell at craft fairs (I don't but for sake of argument). Will I be taxed?
No. As a licensed manufacturer, you will tax your customer on the price of your finished product, and forward it to the feds, keeping a small percentage as a fee.
[More or less as you are supposed to do now with profits under the self employment income tax rules]
It's new goods right? Will the clay I buy be taxed?
No, seeing you are a licensed manufacturer.
Am I buying it at wholesale or retail?
Licensed, wholesale, & no tax. -- No license, retail & taxed.
Who will determine that? Who will audit my sales?
Your friendly folks at the Fair Tax Enforcement Division, who formally worked enforcing the IRS code, -- who else?
Paying Taxes is painful, -- whadayaexpect, - some sort of utopia?
What if I make and sell quilts or pottery or other craft items? They are new. What about the services I sell? Will I be taxed when I mow Mrs. Spinster's yard for $10 or fix her chimney for $100?
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