Posted on 05/27/2009 5:38:44 AM PDT by GreaterSwiss
With budget deficits soaring and President Obama pushing a trillion-dollar-plus expansion of health coverage, some Washington policymakers are taking a fresh look at a money-making idea long considered politically taboo: a national sales tax.
Common around the world, including in Europe, such a tax -- called a value-added tax, or VAT -- has not been seriously considered in the United States. But advocates say few other options can generate the kind of money the nation will need to avert fiscal calamity.
At a White House conference earlier this year on the government's budget problems, a roomful of tax experts pleaded with Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner to consider a VAT. A recent flurry of books and papers on the subject is attracting genuine, if furtive, interest in Congress. And last month, after wrestling with the White House over the massive deficits projected under Obama's policies, the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee declared that a VAT should be part of the debate.
"There is a growing awareness of the need for fundamental tax reform," Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said in an interview. "I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
30 percent. This issue is often confusing, so we explain more here....
As is the INCOME TAX.
I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be in the toilet.
Absolutely.
Roger Hedgecock busting out the soundbites from Ezekiel Emanuel on this now!
RogerHedgecock.Com
We may report the tax rate as $25/$125 = 20 percent, which is the tax-inclusive rate (meaning that the tax is included in the base).In sales "the base price" is the price before tax.
Alternately, we may think of the tax rate as $25/$100 = 25 percent, which is the tax-exclusive rate (meaning the tax is excluded from the base)."The base" is taxable income. How do you exclude some taxable income from all of the taxable income?
If you have to write an essay to explain your sales tax rate...you're lying.
If you have to lie about the rate, what else are you lying about?
If Obama’s manages to transform the economy into his glorious vision, we will wind up with a permanent class of unemployed, about 20-30% of the workforce. This is on top of welfare recipients.
You can just look to Europe for our future, where it is acceptable to list your occupation as “unemployed”. I believe the economy was bound to take a permanent downward turn no matter who was president, but Obama will fundamentally cripple it.
From my experience this occurs when the government overtaxes and people cheat on income taxes. It’s also a tax on the poorer segment of the population and hampers the expansion of the economy. We are becoming a third world cesspool.
Spend, spend, spend spend, tax, tax, tax. The only plan these idiots seem to have....
As the FairTax gains more national attention, questions have again arisen about whether the FairTax rate is 23 percent or 30 percent. In the toxic environment that often accompanies public policy debates, FairTax.org has even been accused by some of misleading the public, even though full descriptions of tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive calculations abound on our Web site. We hope the following explanation puts all such questions to rest at last.
Lets use an example to illustrate the difference between tax-inclusive and tax-exclusive tax rates.
Assume there is a worker named Joe who earns $125 and spends all of his earnings. Lets further assume that the government requires him to pay $25 in taxes.
If the government put a tax on Joes income, he would earn $125 before tax and would have $100 after tax to spend at the General Store. Thus, Joe has to earn $125 to have $100 to spend. Joe would also have to file an income tax return.
If the government put a tax on what Joe spends, he would earn $125 and would have $125 to spend at the store. Of the $125 paid by Joe to the storekeeper, $100 would be for the goods he bought at the store and $25 would be taxes that the storekeeper would send to the government. Joe would not have to file a tax return, as the storekeeper sends the tax in to the government.
Either way, Joe pays $25 in taxes and the government gets $25 in taxes. With a tax on income, Joe pays the $25 directly to the government, and with the tax on spending (sales tax), he pays the $25 in taxes indirectly when he buys something from the General Store. The General Store sends the tax that Joe paid to the government.
We may report the tax rate as $25/$125 = 20 percent, which is the tax-inclusive rate (meaning that the tax is included in the base). Alternately, we may think of the tax rate as $25/$100 = 25 percent, which is the tax-exclusive rate (meaning the tax is excluded from the base). The 23 percent FairTax rate set out in HR 25/S 1025 is a tax-inclusive rate, as is the current personal income tax, whereas most state-level sales taxes are quoted on a tax-exclusive basis. For ease of comparison, FairTax.org gives the tax rate both ways. Both rates are relevant, since the FairTax is replacing an income tax system, and 23 percent correctly represents the tax burden compared to the current system.
To review some of the research that determined a 23% (inclusive) rate is correct, please read Taxing Sales Under the FairTax: What Rate Works? This paper is a collaborative effort of 5 respected and independent economists.
http://www.fairtax.org/site/News2?news_iv_ctrl=1541&page=NewsArticle&id=8248
Protect wrote: “The Dems never believe people respond to their taxes. They always believe in “static” analysis where Revenue = Tax Rates x Income.”
Not true. Democrats believe higher tobacco taxes discourage smoking, and higher gas taxes reduce oil consumption... they just believe higher corporate taxes, sales, taxes and income taxes has no economic effect!
10%???
That’s crazy!
Even under the Liberal government here in Canada we only had 7%.
Now, under the Conservatives, it’s 5%
The ONLY spending cuts you will get from the Dims are cuts in defense spending, military pay, and cutting soldiers from the Armed Forces.
Other than that, expect a VAT, a 500%-1000% increase in Federal Gasoline/Diesal fuel taxes, a across the board income tax increase, and forcing the states to increase their income/property/sales/gas taxes to make up the difference in spending.
No to VAT.
>>I think a VAT and a high-end income tax have got to be on the table.<<
>no mention of cutting spending?<
With a socialist who has no genuine credentials just theory as CIC and the biggest bunch of thieves ever to hit capital hill in our history???
YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT?
If these fascist bastards keep going like they have a holy mandate they will find their asses in the minority very soon.
Even freakin Marin County rejected tax increases in last week’s vote in California. I don’t see this getting through without a major backlash against the Dims.
They are running from high State Income Taxes, of which Texas has none and I don’t think Texas property tax is excessive high compared to where they are moving from. Besides, property taxes in Texas are very low on farms. Does not take much to qualify as a farm.
0bama and friends are desperate to make us European state.
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