APT: A Tiny, Flat Transaction Tax - Far Better for the Nation than the National Sales Tax

www.apttax.com ^ | 11/1/04 | Edgar L Feige, PhD

[APT Project Director]

APT is a new, strikingly different concept in tax reform. It is thoroughly researched by an international economic expert who originally submitted it to a peer reviewed journal in 2000. The above article represents an update in calculations that essentially leaves the rates unchanged after a seven year interval. The APT Tax achieves all the reforms of the NST with none of NST's negatives. It achieves an extremely low rate by expanding the tax base from which it draws by 70 TIMES (not per cent). For huge transactions the tiny 0.24% gets lost in the bidding process. For small frys like us the total annual taxes paid for all Federal Tax including FICA is very little despite taxing (automatically) every transaction we make. At $2.50 per $1000 in transactions one needs $100K in income and after you save or spend it all, your total tax would be $500. If we could find an agreeable distribution formula, we could REPLACE all state taxes for an additional $0.50 per $1000. No more SS liquidity crisis. No more deficits. The national debt can be worked on with dispatch. The growth stimulated would do nothing but raise more revenue at the same rates. If this all sounds like science fiction -- it is NOT. Th finnacial data system of the 21st century allows us to consider it. ALL the details can be found at www.apttax.com.

APT deserves a seat at the "Tax reform table". Our country does not need to be sold down the NST river thinking it's the only way to end the IRS and the Code.

[ancient_geezer]

Where's your legislation's bill number so we can look under the hood at its practical implementation.

[endthematrix]

This, if I understand it, is similar to a floated UN proposal to fund itself. By taxing the transactions of the flow of international capital. I do not favor this as it is more centralized than the NST at the register.

[maine-iac7]

Sounds pretty convoluted to me - and there's some hints in there that this would be a 'cashless' system - ie. Our every action and movement well documented...even better than the current IRS system.

Me thinks this smells...

With the Fed Inc tax - there is total freedom - no total tracking of movements and actions...

[Eccl 10:2]

"The APT Tax achieves all the reforms of the NST with none of NST's negatives. "

It would seem to me that placing such a tax on financial transaction such as stock purchases and sales would quickly bring the financial markets to a grinding halt.

Investors would simply stop, and I mean STOP as in totally and quickly, trading securities on US stock exchanges. Capital formation would CEASE, and jobs would disappear QUICKLY as investment would halt.

Unless I'm missing something.

[Remember_Salamis]

I'm a big NRSTer myself, but if you're going to go as far as you're proposing, why not just do the following:

Repeal all federal taxes and simply print the money needed to run the government. Honestly, it would probably be better than the current system, which discourages saving, hard work, investment, and productivity gains.

Maybe we'll couple this with a massive tightening of the Fed. After all, so much money will be floating around the economy (no federal taxes) that savings rates will sky rocket and bank reserves will go up, suppressing interest rates while keeping inflation low.

Let's just call a spade a spade and implement a 3 - 5% tax on all national wealth through overt inflation (printing money).

3 - 5% on EVERYTHING! Now that's a Flat Tax!

[ancient_geezer]

Since all taxes and the overhead costs related to their compliance must of necessity pass either forward or back to the individual, how does the individual determine the total burden that the APT imposes upon his income and expenditures, including loss in capital value as a result of lower market liquidities; Overhead costs on business & financial markets as they pass on to the individual in impact on the economy; and deadweight losses involved in the burdens laid on transactions as an aggregate?

[endthematrix]

"The financial data system of the 21st century allows us to consider it."

That is a correct statement, but who or how many parties are in control of the data?

[Doctor Stochastic]

So the proposal is to have both a sales and income tax. What about prescription drugs for the poor? Are these still taxed?

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Remember_Salamis]

Yep. And if you read into the plan the APT is based on, the Tobin Tax, that is exactly why they intend to do it.

The Tobin Tax is a tax intened to be applied to the currency trading market. The globalist backers of the plan want to do it to "throw sands in the wheels of the currency market" in order to stabilize third world economies. Revenues, they say, will be used to fund the IMF, the World Bank, and other international financial institutions. See the despicable plan here:

http://www.tobintax.org.uk/

[endthematrix]

Re: investors would simply stop

Why?

[ancient_geezer]

A Taxreform bump for you all.

If you would like to be added to this ping list let me know.

John Linder in the House & Saxby Chambliss Senate, offer a comprehensive bill to kill all income and payroll taxes outright, and provide a IRS free replacement in the form of a retail sales tax:

H.R.25, S.1493
A bill to promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national retail sales tax to be administered primarily by the States.

Refer for additional information: http://www.fairtax.org, http://www.salestax.org & http://www.geocities.com/cmcofer/ftax.html

[endthematrix]

Re my post #3 that's the one.

[jrfaug06]

A few years I had an idea to let banks deduct a small percentage say 1% from each transaction. Say you go cash a check. The bank will deduct 1% to give to government and you get the rest. Say you go to deposit 100 cash to your account. They will deduct 1% and give to the goverment. Every time a check of yours clears they will deduct 1%. When the company you paid for a debt deposits your payment they will get deducted 1%. Every time any one deposits or disburses 1% will be deducted.

Let's recongize that we have a closed system and use the banks to collect our taxes. They are already set up for it. Biggest plus will be it will hit the illegals sending money to Mexico or wherever.

John

[deaconjim]

No thank you. I prefer to keep my transactions private, and my cash available for use.

[jrfaug06]

Follow up example:

Say you take cash and go to buy beer. When that store deposits your money they will get hit with the 1%. This way cash gets taxed, not income. Cash is what we need to tax.

John

[staytrue]

It is a nice idea but I think what would happen is that a lot of stock and bond trading would move to an electronic exchange in the Caymen Islands or something like that.

Or it might move to Tokyo, Frankfurt, etc.

[ancient_geezer]

Re: investors would simply stop

Why?

Because the tax costs increase exponentially with the amount of trading. It operates like compound interest. Think, 1% compounded hundereds of times a day in trading of the the same shares of stock for example, that goes on in creating the liquidity our equity and commodity markets require to be efficient and liquid.

What happens to a stock price when you try to buy it and there is on volume trading to absorb your transaction. Instead of buying on an uptick of 1/8th or 1/4, look for dollars .... and all taxed at some % of total price of the transaction to boot.

That floor trader than now assures your efficient trade at minimal tick to you, ain't gonna be their for you with every trade he handles being taxed to death, with each trade they undertake in a day.

Financial markets, equities, commondities all have the same problem, they rely of volume trading for smooth functioning and someone willing to take the risk of buying from you, or selling to another and absorbing the trade risks.

Tax in the APT manner, and that trading comes to a very quick end. Tax a thing, you get less of it.

Tax trading, and market transactions, ....... think about it.

[Hank Rearden]

I've got an idea - cut the damn spending by about 45%! Too many parasites is the problem, not lack of money.