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Fair Tax, Flawed Tax
The Wall Street Journal ^ | August 26, 2007 12:01 a.m. EDT | BRUCE BARTLETT

Posted on 08/26/2007 4:27:23 AM PDT by Aristotelian

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To: socialismisinsidious
Are you saying that the FairTax will do away with politicians and political vote-buying schemes?

The prebate, and the tax rate, and various exclusions, as well as the threat of an income tax surcharge on the evil "rich" are all very much in the equation with a FairTax.

Heck, to about half the taxpayers an increase in the FairTax rate will just mean an automatically larger monthly allowance from Mommy Sam. Wooo-Hoooo!! More money from heaven!

61 posted on 08/26/2007 7:04:47 AM PDT by RobFromGa (It's the Spending, Stupid! (not the method of collection))
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To: mazda77

You’re right.

Personally, I’m more into Steve Forbe’s idea of a flat tax.


62 posted on 08/26/2007 7:04:59 AM PDT by khnyny (The best minds are not in government. If they were, business would hire them away. Ronald Reagan)
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To: RobFromGa

I agree. Why lock ourselves into high taxes with this revenue neutral plan as long as they waste tons oof money on things we do not even want or need. Also, I object to making business collect taxes. We all pay our bills every month, but the government doesn’t trust us to pay our taxes. I’ll take a bill for other people’s taxes to my grave.


63 posted on 08/26/2007 7:05:04 AM PDT by ClaireSolt (Have you have gotten mixed up in a mish-masher?)
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To: imahawk
I drive 20 year old cars, but still have to by new parts. Still a no go. You are asking those of us who have achieved to take more of the burden again, you just repackaged it. Aside from that there are some purchases that can't be avoided

I want to keep my money, but if I have to pay tax, don’t put it all on me again.

I don’t want to have to live cheap just to make things all even.

64 posted on 08/26/2007 7:05:15 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: Bigun
Because he understands the tactics being employed by the unfairtaxers to promote their BS, and mostly because he’s a couple orders of magnitude smarter than the average unfairtax supporter.
65 posted on 08/26/2007 7:07:30 AM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: Turret Gunner A20
Wrong!! Neither of them gets a tax bill at the end of the year. Neither of them pays a tax until he purchases something.

Lets just say the guy with the higher income purchases more items, at the end of the year more of his property is transfered to the government than the other guy. No mater how you cut it, they are not having the government help it self to equal amounts of their property.

What do you have against treating people equally under the law? Isn't this what fairness is all about?

66 posted on 08/26/2007 7:08:27 AM PDT by Mark was here (Hard work never killed anyone, but why take the chance?)
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To: ejonesie22

What good is money if it isn’t to spend on something eventually?

Money is nothing more than a convenient way to store current effort for future consumption.


67 posted on 08/26/2007 7:08:46 AM PDT by RobFromGa (It's the Spending, Stupid! (not the method of collection))
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To: khnyny

Bingo.


68 posted on 08/26/2007 7:09:41 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: RobFromGa
Exactly. I have no issue supporting the things the government needs to do, roads, military etc., but don’t leverage what I CHOOSE to do with my money to change the balance.

Give me a Flat tax or some other form in that vein that is truly fair.

We already have enough sales tax at the state and local level.

69 posted on 08/26/2007 7:13:44 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: Mark was here
Hint: when "the rich" stop "consuming" (at least to the current extent) the economy collapses. There is an unbelievable level of denial buried in the unfairtax - that "the rich" got that way without contributing anything to the economy.

FT "lies you must believe" #1: "the rich are all trust fund babies" - forget about people like Jeff Bezos, and Larry Ellison, and Fred Smith (FedEx)....

70 posted on 08/26/2007 7:15:41 AM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: ejonesie22

The benefit to taxing income is that it can be doubel and triple checked for the most part to ensure compliance.

To do the same with retail sales would require buyers to register their purchases and the amount of tax paid in some manner to provide an audit trail to go against the sellers records. And it would have to have ways to stop buyers and sellers from working in concert to make an item tax-free through illegal methods or improper use of legal methods.


71 posted on 08/26/2007 7:17:05 AM PDT by RobFromGa (It's the Spending, Stupid! (not the method of collection))
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To: RobFromGa
A good read that addresses such issues that are the problems with the Fair Tax is here:

http://www.mises.org/story/1814

The Mises Institute is not exactly a liberal hot bed in economic thought.

The supporters are all about taxation. The true issue is economics...

72 posted on 08/26/2007 7:17:17 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: Man50D
>>
A sales tax base is far broader than the income tax base as more people have to make purchases than have an income.
<<

Additionally, it would secure tax revenues from people in the underground economy such as drug dealers and car thieves. It would also solve the problem of the IRS is preparing to “solve” by another massive invasion of privacy and imposed compliance, when it issues rules to require eBay to issue 1099 reports for all sales by US Persons totaling more than $600 in any given year.

73 posted on 08/26/2007 7:19:04 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: RobFromGa

It turns every business in to a tax collector. It also can create an “under ground” economy.


74 posted on 08/26/2007 7:20:51 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: ejonesie22

I should say larger underground ecomomy. We have one already.


75 posted on 08/26/2007 7:21:50 AM PDT by ejonesie22 (I don't use a sarcasm tag, it kills the effect...)
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To: ejonesie22

Thanks. Something needs to be done, because what we have in place right now is just not working. More and more money is being funneled into the underground economy to avoid taxes and the IRS is ineffective.

Here’s an interesting link for people who might be interested:

Internal Revenue Service
Assessment of the Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Request

http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05566.pdf

The problem with any government agency is that if they don’t use the money in their budget, they lose that money. There is zero incentive for cost savings within these entities.


76 posted on 08/26/2007 7:25:31 AM PDT by khnyny (The best minds are not in government. If they were, business would hire them away. Ronald Reagan)
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To: xcamel
>>
...that “the rich” got that way without contributing anything to the economy....
<<

Please- the personal wealth of every citizen who legally earned it is his alone to do with as he pleases. It is not “loot” for people with this attitude to divvy up. We are suppose to be free, but the system has made us tax slaves, both from the aspect of reporting, as well as paying.

Unless a person got “rich” entirely through the underground economy, they employed people, and had other economic activity that contributed to the economy. Even people who acted alone, such as Bill Cosby (who gets a 5 figure fee for speaking on college campuses) or author Stephen King will always spend their wealth. If they die before it is all gone, their heirs will, apart from how much the State seizes in the form of death taxes.

77 posted on 08/26/2007 7:26:19 AM PDT by theBuckwheat
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To: ejonesie22

Just from a day in real life..
I collect sales tax on 180 million in sales over 2 states.
If someone claims to be “tax exempt” they give me a form, and I do not charge sales tax.
I cannot (not allowed) to check the validity of the form.
If it turns out to be a bogus form - I get fined, and owe the tax without recourse.
What’s fair about that?


78 posted on 08/26/2007 7:28:30 AM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: theBuckwheat

Nice avoidance of the statement i made...


79 posted on 08/26/2007 7:30:34 AM PDT by xcamel (FDT/2008 -- talk about it >> irc://irc.freenode.net/fredthompson)
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To: Jacquerie
The question is “Which is better, the FT or the current income tax?”
The Fairtax doesn't exist. Fantasy is always better than reality.
80 posted on 08/26/2007 7:34:13 AM PDT by lewislynn (What does the global warming movement and the Fairtax movement have in common? Disinformation)
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