Posted on 01/15/2016 6:58:15 AM PST by Kaslin
Tax reform is a key part of reviving our economy so that the 21st century is another American century. That's why Senator Marco Rubio put together a tax reform plan that would generate economic growth, an employment boom, and rising wages for American workers.
The Rubio tax plan would make the economy grow twice as fast as it has this century because it would lower taxes on hard-working families, allowing them to take home more of what they earn so they can use it to provide a better future for their children. It would reduce taxes on saving and investment, the lifeblood of a thriving economy, so that businesses can create more jobs and pay their workers more. And it would make the way we tax our businesses competitive with other nations that are outcompeting us today for investment and jobs.
The Rubio tax plan safely achieves these enormous benefits while creating no risk to the economy or to our shared goal of a limited government.
The same cannot be said of Senator Ted Cruz's tax plan. Sen. Cruz's plan would threaten the stability of the economy and help liberals achieve their dreams of a bigger government by creating a value-added tax, or VAT.
You are probably unfamiliar with a VAT because it is mostly a tax foreign countries use, especially in Europe. European countries use their VATs to levy high taxes on the middle class so they can fund their enormous governments. As leading anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist is fond of saying, "VAT is a French word for big government."
Liberals have wanted a VAT for years because of its ability to raise large amount of revenue unsuspectingly from the middle class. They want that revenue to grow government even more than they already have.
Cruz argues that his plan is not a VAT because businesses would pay it, rather than it being collected when families make purchases like is done in Europe. Don't be fooled. Cruz's VAT and European VATs are economically identical, and his entails the same substantial threat of growing government.
The VAT raises a whopping 71 percent of all the revenue in Cruz's plan. It does so because it applies to an enormous tax base, including every dollar of all Americans' wages. Because of this, a small increase in the rate results in a huge tax increase, while being largely hidden from the unsuspecting public.
That is why Sen. Cruz's VAT is such a risky venture. It is a liberal's dream mechanism for getting the revenue they need to transform our government into a European one. Once they get ahold of it, the sky is the limit for taxes.
Families will bear a large burden of the VAT. Sen. Cruz likes to say that a family of four making less than $36,000 a year would pay no tax under his plan. But that is untrue. Under his VAT, they will pay a 16 percent tax on every dollar they earn. That is more than they pay in payroll taxes today. That family of four would pay nearly $6,000 in tax under Cruz's dangerous VAT.
A VAT would be economically destabilizing because it would create an enormous amount of uncertainty. Businesses thrive on consistency and predictability, and until they understood how the VAT would impact them, they would hunker down and put off major decisions, much like they have done under Obamacare and other big-government ventures during the Obama years. Families would pay the price with slower economic growth and less opportunity.
The IRS needs a major overhaul. It has lost the faith of the American people, and rightfully so, because of its shameful targeting of conservative groups to help Democrats win elections. Sen. Cruz says his plan would abolish the IRS. But that is inconsistent with his VAT, which would be difficult to enforce. How will he collect the massive amounts of revenue his will raise with no agency to enforce it?
VATs are way outside the mainstream of conservative economic thought for good reason. Cruz's support of a VAT is as troubling as his backing of an unsafe return to the gold standard. A reversion to the outdated gold standard would tank the economy. And if it were in place when his VAT went into effect, the two in tandem would necessitate a steep drop in everyone's earnings. Not to mention that it would help China and Russia, the world's leading gold suppliers.
The economy is still struggling under the weight of President Obama's failed ideology. Now is the worst time to threaten it with a hazardous tax like the VAT. Marco Rubio's plan carries none of the associated risk and delivers more growth to help America's working families. When it comes to taxes, the conservative choice couldn't be clearer.
Do people know what a VAT is? A sales tax is not necessarily at VAT.
Tax reform is badly needed, but it’s a distraction that politicians on both sides want us to focus on.
Instead of focusing on which plan is the best way for them to steal more money from us I’d like to see a focus on why they need to steal so much money. There is an amount of taxes that the government needs to operate and revenue they collect for that is legitimate taxation. Above that they are using taxes to steal from us to get re-elected. ALL of them.
They (with our approval) need to figure out what a legitimate budget is. Without knowing how much revenue they have a legitimate need for there is no way to know the best way to collect that money. Some ways are worse than others but the best really depends on to total revenue they will collect.
No he is not. Please.
The fair tax is NOT A VAT
And your point is what exactly...that we need more of the same?
Cutting the tax rate on business to something less than 20% is a much more straight forward and transparent way to kick start the economy, and it would be much easier to pass through Congress.
And your point is what exactly...that we need more of the same?
No it would be less of the same. Cruz's plan eliminates hidden corporate and payroll taxes.
“Cruz argues that his plan is not a VAT because businesses would pay it, rather than it being collected when families make purchases like is done in Europe.”
If true, this is disconcerting. All businesses must be reimbursed for all costs incurred, taxes included, or they will not be in business long.
I thought Ted Cruz was a smart guy.
If Cruz’z tax plan is a VAT then the current scheme is at a minimum a 39% VAT along with the hidden payroll taxes.
Sales tax is different as it only taxes the end product. The VAT taxes a product at every stage of development. And then it is pretty well hidden to the consumer, except in the inflation of the price of the product. I can tell you, when coming home for Europe, that you can claim back at the airport whatever VAT you paid for goods you are bringing back to the USA. The VAT is only intended to tax the residents who ‘benefit’ from the Socialist programs the VAT funds.
In some hypothetical fantasy land what you say might be true...not in the real world where power changes hands on a frequent basis.
But there is really no need to reinvent the wheel, just lower the tax rates on business.
I don’t see how Cruz is suggesting anything close to a vat tax. I think Rubio is lying.
Rubio is such a smarmy weasel liar. There is no such VAT in Ted Cruz’s tax plan, it doesn’t exist.
Maybe his hearing is off...It’s a FLAT tax, not a VAT tax.
Show me where the VAT is in his plan:
Under the Simple Flat Tax, the current seven rates of personal income tax will collapse into a single low rate of 10 percent. For a family of four, the first $36,000 will be tax-free. The Child Tax Credit will remain in place, and the Simple Flat Tax Plan expands and modernizes the Earned Income Tax Credit with greater anti-fraud and pro-marriage reforms. As a result, the Simple Flat Tax will ensure that low- and middle-income Americans have greater opportunities – not only through minimal taxes, but also through better, high-paying jobs that the Simple Flat Tax will generate. Under the plan, deductions for charitable contributions and mortgage interest payments are preserved.
The IRS will cease to exist as we know it, there will be zero targeting of individuals based on their faith or political beliefs, and there will be no way for thousands of agents to manipulate the system.
For businesses, the corporate income tax will be eliminated. It will be replaced by a simple Business Flat Tax at a single 16 percent rate. The current payroll tax system will be abolished, while maintaining full funding for Social Security and Medicare.
The convoluted tax code will be replaced with new rules of the game – so simple, in fact, that individuals and families could file their taxes on a postcard or phone app. The Death Tax will be eliminated. The Alternative Minimum Tax will be eliminated. The tax on profits earned abroad will be eliminated. And of course, the Obamacare taxes will be eliminated. Also gone will be the unending loopholes in the current code, the stacks of depreciation schedules for businesses, and the multi-tiered rates on income and investments. Under the Simple Flat Tax, the Internet remains free from taxes.
I specifically showed you that aspects of Cruz's plan is less hidden than aspects of our current tax plan and aspects of Trump's tax plan.
Well, as I said previously, I'm not familiar with his plan but He admitted during the debate that it was part of his plan, so I take him at his word.
I’d far prefer a consumption tax vs. high income/corporate taxes. Those whom have a lot of money to spend will be the ones providing most of the tax receipts. If you’re poor you’re buying less and providing less of the tax base BUT you’re still paying a share. At least everyone pays something!
This would allow us to reduce the income/corporate tax rate. I’ve always wanted an explanation of how an income tax is not government theft. We have the right to private property, except the property the government decides isn’t ours to keep, subject to a rate THEY decide. I say get rid of it and raise taxes through a consumption tax.
There are simpler, less risky and more transparent ways to kick start the economy.
The tax plans mean nothing to me, because no matter who is elected President, they aren’t going to reform the IRS. They won’t be balancing the budget either.
American voters simply aren’t ready to handle the reality of what would be necessary to make us solvent again, so politicians will punt it further down the road, as suall.
If that is the case, Townhall is being a RINO mouth piece shill for Rubio which come as a surprise to no one Yes I said and I won't take it back.
the E-GOP / Establishment Media is all about choosing "the one" for us still.
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