The Flat Tax Is Not Flat and the FairTax Is Not Fair »
Posted By populist 10 months, 1 week ago in Political NewsWith the federal budget fast approaching $4 trillion, I can't think of anything that is more of a waste of time than quibbling about how the government can make the tax rates flatter or fairer while it robs us of trillions of dollars. The only fair tax is a tax low enough to flatten skyrocketing congressional spending. Like educational vouchers and the privatization of Social Security, the Flat Tax and the FairTax are gimmicks that libertarians should avoid.
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populist
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Harbeas10 months, 1 week ago
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This person's final comment is quite confusing. He says' "The only fair tax is a tax low enough to offset skyrocketing government expenditures". Seems to me that a flat tax of 10% would then be a tax that would meet his definition. If the government can't live on 10% of everyones income, they are truly spending too much!
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Will131310 months, 1 week ago
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I still like and think the FAIR TAX or a variation is the way to go...
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YOU decide how much tax you want to pay..
RICH people aren't going to buy a 12" black and white TV..
but
the FAIR TAX gets EVERYBODY.. because EVERYBODY buys stuff....
EVERYBODY..-
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ADAGUY10 months, 1 week ago
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Let's assume that I am wealthy. Next, let's assume that the fair tax becomes law. Now, everything you buy, and every dime you spend is taxed to the tune of 30%. If you make 85K a year, anything above the allotted income is taxed to this amount.
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Now lets assume that I, (a wealthy businessman), decides to buy a new jet, and a new yacht.
Why not buy them both overseas? thereby avoiding this 30% tax altogether. By the way, my summer home Italy is also not subject to the "fair tax" In fact, most of my business expenditures are tax free, as I do so much business offshore.
You, on the other hand are still paying 30% every day.
If I were wealthy, I would love this idea! -
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Georgia5010 months, 1 week ago
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I agree with the Fair Tax in principle, that is, a consumption tax. But the Fair Tax as proposed will never be that tax regime.
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1. The IRS is not the enemy. Its job is to translate the US tax code into regulations in such a way that everyone from the lobstermen of Maine to the movie producers of Hollywood get regulations that are molded or can be molded to their respective economic fact patterns.
2. We simply cannot have the anarchy of a federal tax being administered by 50 states. We can't have 50 states writing the regulations. We cannot have 50 different avenues of taxpayer remedies. Not thinkable, not tenable, and astonishingly naive.
3. The Fair Tax proposal itself contains a provision for witholding income from domestic employees. Sure, it's just one small provision. So was the original income tax law.
4. Speaking of the simplicity of the original income tax law, so what if the Fair Tax starts off simple? What's to keep Congress from working its "magic" over the next 60 years and making it more complex than ever conceived?
5. Everyone pays the Fair Tax? How can we know? The proposal requires the tax to be embedded, not explicitly stated. Therefore, it cannot be audited. Which means anyone paying cash can get the "Canadian cash discount," or 15% off if you pay cash. Care to guess where that 15% flexibility comes from? (In the case of the Fair Tax, it'd be more like a 23% discount.)
I could go on, but anyone who wants the outstanding goals of the Fair Tax to be achieved, end the US Tax Code, preserve privacy, and take Congress out of the equation to the fullest extent possible should familiarize themselves with the ACT Tax proposal by Professor Feith of the Univ. of Wisconsin. Every goal accomplished for a fraction of the cost and the entire process is self-auditing. Win/win/win all the way around.
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stephen-johnson10 months, 1 week ago
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When you have a tax code that's so convoluted that cabinet appointees - either from gaming the system or ignorance of the tax rules - keep getting caught in tax snafus, there is a compelling argument for a change towards simplicity. But it will never happen - government uses the tax code more for enhancing its power than collecting revenue.
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