Posted on 05/05/2006 1:35:32 PM PDT by RobFromGa
In my letter to Rep. Linder and Mr. Boortz of August 24, 2005, I pointed out a number of what I called “serious misrepresentations” of the Fair Tax plan contained in “The FairTax Book”. I specifically named many of these by page #.
Now that the revised second issue is out, let’s see what they did to these passages in the book:
First edition page 55, you go on to explain that these embedded taxes are “in addition to the money taken out of your check in income and payroll taxes.”
Second edition- this line was eliminated. This means that they are acknowledging that the 22% embedded taxes INCLUDE the income and payroll taxes which was one of my points all along.
First edition page 59, “Once the FairTax takes effect, you’ll be receiving 100 percent of every paycheck, with no withholding of federal income taxes, Social security taxes, or Medicare taxes and you’ll be paying just about the same price for T-shirts and other consumer goods and services that you were paying before the FairTax.”
Second edition- “Once the FairTax takes effect, you’ll be in complete control of your paycheck as nothing will be withheld and your purchasing power for t-shirts and all other goods and services will be almost exactly what it was before the FairTax.”
This means that they are acknowledging that “purchasing power” will remain the same, not a big increase in purchasing power as they previously asserted with their larger paychecks/same prices verbiage. They eliminated the “100% of paycheck” wording.
First edition page 83: “Remember that the poor, along with everyone else—will no longer have Social Security taxes or Medicare taxes removed from their paychecks. Whatever they earn, they get on payday. For most of those we categorize as poor, this would mean an immediate 25 to 30 percent increase in their take-home pay.”
Second edition- “Remember that the poor, along with everyone else—will no longer have Social Security taxes or Medicare taxes removed from their paychecks. Whatever they earn, they get on payday. If employers leave this money in paychecks instead of taking it out of price, most of those we categorize as poor, this would mean an immediate 25 to 30 percent increase in their take-home pay.”
Of course, this acknowledges that the employer has a choice to make—to pay the worker his current paycheck and not reduce prices (meaning prices with FairTax added go up 30%) or to cut paychecks to present takehome levels. They cannot both give workers more takehome pay and reduce prices. The Free Lunch described in the first edition is eliminated.
First edition, page 84, you make it clear though that even though the workers will keep all of their paychecks for a big raise, you still believe that because of “the disappearance of the embedded taxes, the total price paid for consumer goods will remain very nearly the same”.
Second edition—“when you factor in the combined lower prices/higher takehome pay caused by the disappearance of the embedded taxes” prices will remain about the same.
This again acknowledges that they money currently deducted as taxes can either be used to increase take-home pay or reduce prices but not both at the same time. If they were being more honest here, they would have referred to purchasing power remaining the same rather than prices, but they are trying to put the best possible spin on this major admission.
First edition page 111, you tie it all together with a Quick Review in which you erroneously assert that “Here’s what happens when we pass and implement the FairTax plan:
“We start collecting 100 percent of our earnings on our paycheck.
“We all get virtual raises, since payroll taxes are no longer siphoned from our checks.
“The prices of consumer goods and services remain essentially the same, with the removal of the embedded taxes compensating for the added consumption tax.”
Second edition:
“We start controlling our earnings in every paycheck” (whatever that means)
“100% earnings” line is eliminated from the second edition. "virtual raises" is likewise eliminated.
“Our purchasing power for buying consumer goods and services remains essentially the same, with the removal of the embedded taxes compensating for the added consumption tax.”
This is a MAJOR difference in the Quick Review! In the first edition, they promised larger paychecks and prices remianign the same—which means a major increase in purchasing power. Of course this was a ridiculous promise. In the second edition, they say our purchasing power will be about the same.
They still left a lot of wrong and misleading verbiage throughout the book, but they addressed most of the concerns that I sent to them and removed those claims in the second book.
Sorry, Nightie, you SQLers are the ones who turned it into a "big thing" by not 'fessing up and admitting the error (and by not even finding it) and then by calling others who spotted it "liars".
I merely pointed out there WAS an error and kept saying so in the face of all your name calling.
Sorry, Nightie, you SQLers are the ones who turned it into a "big thing" by not 'fessing up and admitting the error (and by not even finding it) and then by calling others who spotted it "liars".No, you made it a big thing when you refused to say when asked nicely what this simple mistake was.
"asked nicely"???
Here are the first half dozen or so responses from you where you "asked nicely":
Here are the first half dozen or so responses from you where you "asked nicely":I didn't say I asked you nicely. When you first mentioned this error RobFromGa politely asked "what error is that?" and you started your silly game by replying "You can't bear to read your own posts???" and refused to say what the "error" was. This would not have even been an issue if you had just replied as nicely as you were asked.
And, of course, that gives you the right and the opportunity to jump in and do some bashing all the while (and even still) pretending to be so holier than thou.
The inference you draw about the meaning of my showing up the error is entirely youw own, Nightie, as I never once said (or inferred) that it was a "significant error" but merely an error. Can't give it up can you.
Robbie was given the opportunity to catch the error and say it was no biggie, but he - along with you and several other goons - chose not to do so. You lie in a bed entirely of your own choosing. (Do I need to put a smiley after that so you'll realize it's "pun intended"???)
The inference you draw about the meaning of my showing up the error is entirely youw own, Nightie, as I never once said (or inferred) that it was a "significant error" but merely an error.Bringing it up implies it was significant.
It implies no such thing ... and an inference is drawn. So you're wrong on both counts.
It implies no such thingI disagree. If weren't trying to make it a big issue, why wouldn't you just say what it was?
You can't infer anything from your own comments, you can only imply. When you go and pick up an economics textbook, get a grammar textbook too.as I never once said (or inferred) that it was a "significant error" but merely an errorand an inference is drawn. So you're wrong on both counts.
The inference was left for you and was not something I was doing from my own comments but something you were doing.
I had actually hoped that Robbie (and then later you since you coundn't resist jumping in) would read what was posted and understand what the error was. Several of you refused to do that and merely continued the name calling.
My good friend Dimp-Dimp was the only one of you Squirrels prescient enough to do so though other FairTax supporters caught it. Guess that means your all ignorant except Dimp-Dimp, eh?
I'm afraid you're the one needing the remedial reading since I've had adequate academic background in both economics and grammer ... at least I can read and when I point out an error you can bet it is an error.
You can't infer anything from your own commentsUnless you're schizo and don't know they were your comments.
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