GOP Discusses National Sales Tax

FOX ^ | Dec 1, 2004

[concretebob]

Actually, it is the 16th Admendment

[roylene]

I do not. Can you imagine a pair of shoes at Payless Shoes for 25 dollars will now cost 25 X (23.5% +8.5% state tax) $33. Good grief... The feds are also talking about adding the tax to everything..food (oh come on now) housing ...thats an increase in the cost of 23.5%
Flat tax..studies I have read have said that the first 50K could be exempt and 12% on everything over that would fund the government with more cash than they have now and eliminate the deficit in a few years and then the slow elimination of the debt.
OK sorry for the rail..

[mysterio]

Sales tax is definitely not the way to go. If the Republicans push it, the cost politically will be enourmous. With a sales tax, the rich truly will pay less and the poor truly will pay more. It pours gasoline on the class warfare fire. I think a flat tax is a much better option.

[concretebob]

HR:2525

[afnamvet]

Thanks

[lilylangtree]

Too much centralized control that would make it real easy for the DC politicians (demoncRAT, pubbies & indep) to start increasing the sales tax--at first it would start to creep, then bang it'll increase quite noticeably all under the disguise of "we've got to balance the budget but we won't decrease spending."

[ApesForEvolution]

Bump for eliminating the IRS/IRC, the Constitutionally-repugnant, tyrannical, Federal Mafia enslavement system...

[ApesForEvolution]

Stop participating in the fraud...

[DTaggart]

"The feds are also talking about adding the tax to everything..food (oh come on now) housing"

Holy cow, can you imagine what that would do to the real estate market?

[Your Nightmare]

The rate in terms used for sales taxes is 29.87%. So your $25 shoes would be $34.59 with state sales tax.

[concretebob]

The sales tax has a built in offset for low-middle income families. You pay the sales tax up front, with a refund for necessities. The first 35,000 to 40,000 is exempt. Also, remember, you're getting ALL your wages. No witholding tax. you earn 40K a year, you take home 40K.

[F16Fighter]

"For many, the idea of a world without the Internal Revenue Service is very seductive."

Not to mention delusional.

ANY supplemental 'National Tax' or VAT is yet another gub'mint scam to suck more blood out of the citizenry -- and that's what it would be -- supplemental.

The IRS is not going anywhere.

[mike182d]

"If you consume $40,000 a year and you make $50,000 a year, would you feel it is fair if a guy who made a half a million dollars a year but spent $40,000 a year paid the same tax you do? I think you wouldn't feel it's fair," said Buck Chapoton, former assistant treasury secretary.

Actually, yes, that would be fair. Its entirely consistent with the "you get what you pay for" theory. In other words, those who benefit most from what America offers, put the most into it.

Of course, taking as much money as we can from rich people right from their pockets, simply because they're rich, and redistributing their income to those who did not earn it is a much more fair system of taxation /sarcasm

[beekay]

relacing the income tax with a national sales tax means that those who have savings will be double taxed. once when they earned the money that they have managed to save and the second time when they now spend it. it seems that it would be hard to exempt spending from savings that have already been taxed under the current income tax system.

[Steve_Seattle]

Does this mean a 23 percent tax, or 23 cents? If you buy a $500,000 house, the tax is 23 cents, and if you buy a pack of gum the tax is also 23 cents? That seems ridiculous, so i assume it must mean 23 percent. But 23 percent sems high; for a $20,000 car, you'd pay $4,600 in federal tax. Who's going to support that?

[L98Fiero]

I agree. I like the flat-tax better. In a consumer driven economy, the last thing you want to do is discourage spending, which is what I think this large of a national sales tax would do. I KNOW I would cut my spending and buy as much as I could second-hand.

[DTaggart]

"Does this mean a 23 percent tax, or 23 cents? If you buy a $500,000 house, the tax is 23 cents, and if you buy a pack of gum the tax is also 23 cents? That seems ridiculous, so i assume it must mean 23 percent. But 23 percent sems high; for a $20,000 car, you'd pay $4,600 in federal tax. Who's going to support that?"

Please telll me you're kidding.

[Jay777]

If you consume $40,000 a year and you make $50,000 a year, would you feel it is fair if a guy who made a half a million dollars a year but spent $40,000 a year paid the same tax you do?

Seems fair to me. This guy has the right to save as much as they want...They earned the money. On a different note however, can someone explain why 23% is not high?

[dljordan]

Whatever they decide to do you can bet the taxpayer will be screwed because they don't intend to lose any money. They've got tons of bureaucrats to support and programs to run.

[datura]

The IRS currently adds 22 cents on the dollar to the cost of everything sold in the US - so it only costs us one cent above that per dollar to be rid of the IRS forever.

As an employer, try to imagine not having to spend the accounting time on witholding. As a taxpayer, imagine getting your entire paycheck - but at the same time only paying one cent more for everything you buy per dollar.

By eliminating all of those taxes that drive businesses offshore, as well as make American goods overpriced (thanks unions), our economy would skyrocket by getting this 800 pound gorilla off of our backs. Federal tax cheats would be SOL as well.