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.
Some parts of the Communist Manifesto apparently make sense to you so which of those categories applies to you ... weak? useless? Oh, I know - academic elite since you said you were cultured and well educated.
Me, I'm just a poor slob who has had to work for the barest of a living. Here's the point of the C. M. that you so love:
"2. A heavy progressive or graduated income tax."
... and you're arguing in favor of that??? 'Fraid your larnin' ain't up to snuff.
You're welcome to use whichever word you like best but you do seem to mix them up. I think the meaning is clear enough either way and hair-splitting with you isn't helping readers to learn about the FairTax so I'll not continue to waste time.
A guy who thinks a lot like you, Bruce.Who does David Gale work for and what does he have to do with this?
FA, you know you've nailed a FairTaxer when they accuse you of "hair splitting"! Congrats on getting Squeally.
IMHO this will kill most new big ticket item sales, who is going to 'use' these items so they can be sold w/o a 23-30% tax added to the price?
If, as a business owner or farmer, you buy something for strictly business purposes (not for personal consumption), you pay no consumption tax.
A Huge loophole. Everyone will open a 'business'.
I am all for a new form of taxation but question this one.
ps.. What about home sales?
Tack on 23-30% and amortize it for 30 yrs? Not a chance.
Another industry killed.
Tax Reform Panel Picks Apart FairTax Proposal
What can be expected from a government that refuses to take a constitutional and common sense approach to spending..........
Not "nailed" at all, sorry. Just not willing to continue to waste time on it. You naysayers like this as a favorite tactic to derail the subject of the thread - the FairTax and its benefits.
Haven't read it since the ninth grade. If you are against progressive taxation then why are you not a supporter of the flat tax? With the BIG or FCA the farttax is designed to have progressivity. Never woulda thought.
PD, I'll take this one. Simple a Flat Tax would allow the IRS to continue existing.
By the way, a socialist is someone who fights tooth and nail for more government regulations, higher taxes, more bureaucrats and would do anything to prevent the repeal and stripping away of any power the government has over the citizens; in other words, from your previous statements on this thread against the Fairtax/NRST, you are a socialist.
Your farttax bill will also allow the income tax to exist. Straight out, if that bill is passed does the Constitution change? I think the answer is no because it can't.
Liar, Fairtax abolishes the IRS, taxes are collected by the states.
About Google, http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1398507/posts Nuff said.
WRT 274, is that all you got? Lame!
You need to do some research on the points before you bring them up to attack. Every one of those have been covered in depth on these threads before.
Most people unfamiliar with the FairTax automatically assume that the intended tax is applied in addition to existing prices. That's not the case at all as shown in overview form by:
http://www.fairtax.org/pdfs/Removing_Americas_Eco.pdf
A good starting place on home ownership would be:
http://www.fairtax.org/pdfs/FairTax_and_Mortgage.pdf
It seems that you are assuming house prices will stay at pressent levels when instead they will decrease as will interest rates. Check it out.
Business ownership is no more of a "loophole" than at present and, in fact, is undoubtedly less so since the present tax system has analogous loopholes that are even easier to use for evasion - and the marginal rate returns under present tax laws are even greater (with lowered chance of detection due to sheer return volume if nothing else) than the FairTax rate. Payroll taxes alone account for a rate of over 15% and a business choosing to break the law under the FairTax is undoubtedly doiing so now. In fact, the IRS says current noncompliance/evasion is something like 20 - 25% of tax revenues. It seems doubtful the FairTax non-compliance would be that great since retail sales are easer to monitor that all of the permutations of the income tax law and since the points to monitor are many, many fewer that the millions and millons as at present - and the possibility of detection is much greater under the FairTax. That alone will deter many tempted to so indulge..
Even more detailed answers can be found here:
http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/faq.html
The FairTax bill itself is very informative and worth reading and it is available as "hr25" here:
http://thomas.loc.gov
No, it's Monday.
Did you know what he said she knew before he knew she had said it, or did he say it before you knew?
Now, are you inferring what I'm implying? How would you know?.... by inferring !!! LOL
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