FairTax points of interest.

Congressman Linder's website ^ | August, 7, 1006 | John Linder

[pigdog]

A couple of points:

The GAO (Congress's auditing branch) found that all of the exemptions, exclusions, and special favors in the current tax code drain federal receipts by $728 billion each year. That is almost as much as the nation spends on Medicare and Social Security combined and 60% more than the nation spends on national defense. The FairTax eliminates all deductions, credits, and carve-outs to ensure that everyone pays his or her fair share.

and:

The Department of Commerce reports in its most recent Economic Census that just 688 retailers (0.03%) in the U.S. make 48.6% of all the sales. Just 3.6% of retailers collectively make 85.7% of all U.S. sales. Fewer points of collection will mean higher compliance with the FairTax than with today's complex system.

[pigdog]

There are a number of other FAQs and points of interest as well.

[pigdog]

Some of the comments seem to circulate under the "FairTax Fact" button near the bottom of the page.

[Badray]

bttt

[Uriah_lost]

Thanks, good stuff there....oh yeah.....INCOMING!!!

heh

[GeronL]

The poor will no longer pay social security or medicare taxes and will recieve a 'prebate' and all of this will be paid for by the middle class.

So if you are not poor the fairtax is a tax increase for you.

[StJacques]

"oh yeah.....INCOMING!!!"

lol!

[ancient_geezer]

A Taxreform ping for you all.

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

John Linder in the House(HR25) & Saxby Chambliss Senate(S25) offer a comprehensive bill to kill all federal income, SS/Medicare payroll, and gift/estate taxes outright replacing them with with a national retail sales tax administered by the states.

H.R.25,S.25
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:

• AllTheWeb search: "national sales tax" OR "national retail sales tax" OR "fairtax"

[mhx]

drain federal receipts by $728 billion each year

I guess this is bad?

[StJacques]

"So if you are not poor the fairtax is a tax increase for you."

Only if 23% of what you consume is greater than your current income tax payment. For some wealthy Americans, it will be more. For others it will be less.

[StJacques]

"I guess this is bad?"

With federal deficits now over $275 billion per year and the Democrats screaming for us to raise taxes to cover the difference and pay for new programs, it's very bad.

[TexasTransplant]

Everybody pays, unlike now where only honest people pay.

The simple dismantling of th IRS is enough for me.

I REALLY HATE those folks

TT

[Principled]

So if you are not poor the fairtax is a tax increase for you.

You're wrong. I challenge you to come up with such a scenario using real data.

Legal particpants in today's income/payroll tax system will have increased purchasing power. Effective rates are lower because the base is larger.

[GeronL]

its 30% actually, these people assume (sure) that 7% will come from lower taxes after the end of the corporate income taxes. The plan is revenue neutral and that money has to come from somewhere. Since the poorest workers are no longer paying their portion of social security and medicare and are getting prebates, that means someone else is paying for it.

Plus since its an inclusive tax it won't appear on the receipt. And since all workers get back a tiny portion of their taxes each month "christmas day monthly" they will be easily goaded into higher and higher taxes by Democrats with the promise of also increasing the prebate. Dare the GOP oppose that??

In a few years we could have a 150% hidden sales tax, the poor will get higher prebates than everyone else for "fairness" and perpetural leftist control of government. This is an anti-freedom idea.

Years ago conservatives used to say watch out for those ideas where the government takes all your money and decides how much to let you have back.

THIS IS THAT PLAN.

[Principled]

Only if 23% of what you consume is greater than your current income tax payment.... AND 100% of your earnings are spent on taxable goods AND you have no existing mortgage payments, car payments, or other existing installment payments AND you pay zero local, state taxes AND you save ZERO AND you choose to deny your prebate.

IOW, it's damn near impossible to have a 23% rate, unless you're an illegal immigrant.

[mhx]

So is that different from a tax increase? If $728 billion dollars is going to be coming out of someone's pocket that didn't used to be?

I mean, let's at least call it a tax increase.

[StJacques]

"I REALLY HATE those folks"

You know TT, I really don't like them either. I also do not like the myriad complex of government departments, services, administrations, bureaus, offices, and more who not only sustain the exemptions to the income tax by arguing for them when legislation comes before Congress, but who are also sustained by the income tax in that they justify their raison d'être in the first place.

I'm ready to lop off all their heads at once. That is how we can use tax reform to help cut spending, which is the real goal of fiscal reform (for conservatives like myself at least).

[StJacques]

"So is that different from a tax increase? If $728 billion dollars is going to be coming out of someone's pocket that didn't used to be?"

Is it a tax increase to remove an exemption? Yes. Is it fair to remove the exemption? Oh he!! yes! Those exemptions are given to corporate enterprise and the politically powerful in return for their ability to finance lobbying efforts that produce results for them in legislation which ordinary taxpayers have to foot the bill for in increases in their own rates. We could lower the tax rates on individual taxpayers by putting them on an level playing field with corporate enterprise and the politically powerful.

[Uriah_lost]

I'll say it again for this thread....Every day at the State Probation and Parole office where I work, I see clients (we have to call them clients now) drive up in cars that had to cost more than I make in a year, sometimes two years. They walk in with the latest fashions, newest cell phones, and a couple of pounds of "bling" to turn in their paycheck stubs to prove that they are still employed at the local Hardee's, part time, for 7.50 an hour. Hmmm I think, where is all the money coming from to support this lifestyle? Ya think the $79 that's coming out of his paycheck is "his fair share"? I'm just guessing here but it doesn't seem to be too much of a stretch to figure that a tax on CONSUMPTION would be a good way to get a little more acurate share of what he ACTUALLY makes......ya think?

[TexasTransplant]

>>>>"complex of government departments, services, administrations, bureaus, offices, and more"<<<<<

Try to get "ONE" answer or anyone that will take any responsibility for any answer that they give you. (I'd rather talk to sewer sludge (the answers I'd get would be worth more)

I'd trust a Rattlesnake before I trusted an IRS agent.

TT

[Uriah_lost]

If the same total amount is raised, all that would be happening is that the money would be coming from those that choose to spend beyond a subsistence level instead of those with the best lobbyists and political blackmail artists or the most pathetic looking pictures of third world children. Enterprise would be rewarded, how is that bad?