Posted on 05/12/2005 7:46:54 PM PDT by Your Nightmare
Members of the President's Advisory Panel on Federal Tax Reform on May 11 expressed concerns over the FairTax national retail sales tax, a plan that has emerged as an alternative with a major grass-roots push.
Panel chair Connie Mack, vice chair John B. Breaux, and other members worried the plan would be difficult to enforce, would be regressive, and would require a high rate in order to take in enough money to fund the government.
Breaux raised concerns that the proposed 23 percent (tax-inclusive) rate would not be sufficient to raise the revenue necessary to fund the government. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that it would take as much as a 57 percent (tax-exclusive) rate to be revenue-neutral. Further, Breaux said he thought exemptions that would be carved out to make the sales tax progressive would also complicate it.
Mack, who raised concerns similar to his fellow panelists', said he was "intrigued" by the plan. "But if it's such a great idea, why haven't other political entities around the world pursued it?" he asked.
Americans for Fair Taxation Executive Director Tom Wright emphasized that the plan emerged after "thorough academic research" and "thorough polling" The strong grass-roots push has resulted in some of the group's 600,000 members appearing at each of the panel's hearings and has inspired a large comment-writing campaign to the panel in support of the plan.
Sales tax advocates were among the 20 witnesses who gathered before the panel for a full day of testimony on tax reform proposals. Although the group has held several other hearings in Washington and around the country, the May 11 meeting was its first hearing on specific reform plans since Bush appointed the panel in January. The panel has been charged with identifying tax reform proposals that are progressive, encourage charitable giving and home purchases, and are revenue-neutral. The proposals are due by July 31.
Among the tax replacement and reform plans presented to the panel were the value added tax, consumption-based tax, and the flat tax, as well as proposals that would use the current income tax as the foundation.
Witnesses generally claimed that theirs was the fairest, simplest, most flexible, most transparent revenue-neutral proposal that would improve economic growth and savings while meeting the president's criteria of encouraging charitable giving and home buying. Witnesses presenting consumption-based plans praised their overhaul as taking millions of low-income taxpayers off the rolls, being easy to transition to on a worldwide basis, and including safeguards to prevent new loopholes that would result in increased complexity down the road.
Tax reform panel members, who agree the current tax system needs to be fixed, grilled witnesses without revealing whether they will ultimately endorse a consumption- or income-based tax or a different mixture of the two.
http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/index.html
Fair Tax quick faq...
That's right in character and has been so since whenever he started posting - '98 or '99.
You shouldn't expect any significant improvement as there has been none in all that time.
So you don't want the selfish 'give me' (baby boomer) generation to pay for their selfishness.
If the baby boomers did not push for all these laws, regulations, deductions, higher taxes and if they had not aborted 40 million babies, we would not be in the mess we are in today.
The fairtax bill does not and can not abolish the IRS or the income tax as much as you would like to say or dream, so dream on. Case closed.
I knew all along where you were coming from. Too bad. We got the votes and the so-called farttax will never be. Better go to work, like the Boomers did and still do.
BTW, I can't "infer" as I can only imply when I write or speak (typical X'er), and how did you ever infer I was elderly?
I do not buy stuff for my business, I sell my time and knowledge.
No, not "case closed" but rather "mind closed". Read the FairTax bill and you will see that it eliminates not only the income tax (and several others), but also abolishes the IRS and has other salutary changes as well.
As I said ... read the bill.
http://thomas.loc.gov/
enter "HR 25"
You missed the "... or other ..." and picked out "ill gotten".
High tech divisions of major companies? Sounds like tax money has been making you wealthy. Good for you. I'd have to note, though, that I can't see that the "MX/PeaceKeeper" saved any X'ers rumps so you get no kudos from me.
In addition, you're making a big jump about me and my background - and it's erroneous to boot.
Maybe you should blow all your "riches" quick before the FairTax becomes law so you don't have to invest it tax free and help both yourself AND the country. That way you can go around bitching about how the FairTax drove you into the poorhouse or you'd have all that money to invest and get richer on.
Well duh.
I and my parents invested heavily in my education and experience when I was young. That is the basis for the payoff. It takes good genes and culture as well. It also takes an understanding of the values that made the USA great so I could emulate those. Adding an additional layer of broadbased taxes is not one of those.
LOL!Hey, unPrincipled. What's 25% more than nothing?
25% of what?
The government will never give up it's primary source of power.
Your post #167 infers what I stated. If you like the word "imply" better you're certainly welcome to use it - free country you know! I think the word I used fits better however.
You don't "buy stuff" for your business ...!!!??? Really. You don't use computers, telephone, office supplies, etc.? Your customer just picks you up in a limo periodically to stand up and talk at 'em. How fortunate for you. Or maybe they have a multiway multimedia connection where you help keep them on the straight and narrow.
I certainly hope they get their money's worth.
Some say its primary source of power is being in office ... ie getting elected....
but I agree one of the main obstacles is that they'll lose power. some folks don't see that... and even think the nrst is a power grab. lol
Who is 'we'? You just betrayed yourself by showing everyone here that you are a socialist.
I sort of had the idea that bills were very necesary precursors to laws but then I haven't saved any Gen X'ers of Boomers lately. How is it again that those laws come into being???
Though I don't bet (so I'll have to pass on your suggestion to gamble) I DO like sure things - and I think the FairTax is a sure thing to become law ... or as near so as can be obtained in bill form.
Certainly a Constitutional amendment is quite different than a tax bill and the two cannot be combined, but the FairTax bill calls for repeal of the 16th. In any event, the IRS and the income tax are goners I think. Why is it you oppose that?
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