Posted on 01/12/2008 1:06:53 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Yes, I've read the legislation.
No, I don't listen to the radio show.
No, I'm no stupid, idiotic, dishonest, evil, an employee of the IRS, spouse of an IRS employee, or part of a conspiracy of journalists against the middle class.
Yes, other conservative economists who have asked tough questions about the FairTax warned me to get ready for a gusher of hate mail.
Yes, the fact that the FairTax faction (after reading a torrent of insulting email, that word seems right to me) defaults to abusive speech from the beginning means that they are a movement of zealots with a weak case.
No, my questions are not all answered in the book or at fairtax.org or in the legislation.
No, my questions are not really answered by the emails and posts which I have received. What have been answered are the questions which remind the FairTaxers of other easier questions to are addressed on the web site.
No, the FairTax will not be simple. The debate in response to my latest article proves that.
No, the apologists who responded to me did not even remotely deal with the problem of the interest portion of mortgages.
Yes, I know that that interest isn't supposed to be taxable. But I also know that if all interest remains non-taxable, there will be a massive movement towards discounting house and durable goods sales prices and then making up the difference with high interest rates.
No, none of the fairtaxers seem who wrote to me seem to know that under the legislation, only some of interest is non-taxable.
Yes, that's right the government will decide what a reasonable interest rate is, and then tax you for anything above that.
No, the legislation's choice of how to interest is not actually reasonable at all. It uses the Treasury bond rate, which is very low.
So, yes, you will be paying sales tax, not just on your house, but on a substantial part of your interest as well.
Yes, this makes the effective tax rate on houses (and cars, and washing machines, etc.) and anything else bought with borrowed money, higher than on goods not purchased on credit.
Yes, this hurts the poor.
Yes, this punishes people with sub-prime mortgages.
Yes, it means that every time the Fed meets, it finds itself not just setting monetary policy, but tax policy as well.
No, this is not just interest about the interest problem. I could go all day on about this plan. Employee discounts, tipping, taxing churches: every element of this plan is fraught with complexity. The fact that the FairTaxers shout down questions like this tells us a great deal more about them than it does about the proposed plan.
Yes, I'm done for now.
Having thought about it, it appears that the author of the original article is probably correct on this point also.
It appears to me that in fact 801 is probably worse policy than simply computing the imputed value of the sale because of the excess interest charge and charging the FairTax on that hypothetical sale value. By charging 30% on the putative excess of interest on each payment, that means that the borrower is paying an extraordinary penalty for any interest rate above the section 805 "basic interest rate".
Just buy used food. These Fairtaxers have been selling it for years.
I do not care how much a person earns a year, they only get one ballot to fill out come election time. And yes they all get a tax bill for an equal amount. This is what equality under the law is all about.
You said for a guy earning a million — $1200 a hundred bucks a month should do it. If as you said, “they all get a tax bill for an equal amount”. Then the guy earning 12,000 gets to pay that same amount a month. $1200 X 12 = $14,400. Where is this guy going to get the $2400 he owes ?
I made a mistake, you said that the millionaire actually pays just $1,200 a year and that’s all. Fine, that means the guy earning $12,000 a year pays 10% of his salary in taxes and the millionaire pays close to zero percent of his salary in taxes.
The implication is this -— Let’s say there are 200 million taxpayers in this country, each paying $1,200 a year.
That means the US government collects :
200,000,000 X $1,200 = $240 Billion in taxes.
Try defending the country and keeping the peace and securing our borders ( the essential role of government ) and maybe keeping the country’s infrastructure on that amount.
Yes, NEW is the keyword. The FT applies to purchases of NEW goods and services by the end user.
Gas for your car would be taxed; but keep in mind the currently embedded income tax considerations would be removed.
Materials for home repairs would be subject to the tax
Materials for auto repairs would be taxed.
Guess Congress will have to cut back on their pensions.
“short-bus fairtaxers ping”
How about a simple 10% of all income.
God asks for 10%, I think government can get by on the same amount.
People end up with 80-90% of whatever they earn, depending how well they give to their church/religion. Bill comes early January, get until April 15 to pay it. Gives people plenty of time to set aside during the year in an account to earn interest. They know right up front exactly what rate (10%) they will be paying.
These high rates of the Fair Tax/National Sales tax (anywhere from 23-30%) are completely unfair and socialist and are WAY, WAY, WAY TOO HIGH to have majority support. You may as well turn your whole damn check over and let them give you a sliver back.
Under the Fair Tax....you don't have to pay if you don't want to....just don't buy anything new!Don't buy:
I would guess that after a fair tax is implemented, everybody would be paying about the same as before..
..the point is that the most egregious tyranny that is operating in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave would be gone! No more April 15th....no more keeping little scraps of paper just to "prove" you are not a crook.....no more confiscation of your pay by someone else....you get it all. There is absolutely nothing standing in the way of Congress moving the max tax rate right now to 100% other than for the moment, we still are an armed population.
If God abandons us this election, and Hillary or Hussein Obama wins the Presidency, and the 'rats get the House and Senate...the 100% max tax rate will be a lot closer than you think.
Freedom is the issue here.....and as we all know.....
Freedom is not free.
I think 10% cap on COMBINED STATE AND FEDERAL taxes should be mandatory.
If the federal sales tax is 5% then the max state sales tax is 5%.
Also state income taxes should be prohibited constitutionally.
I have only spent a couple of hours on it ***********************************************
Funny ,, you were an expert last week...
So can Irrational Rage Syndrome
Not to mention food, child care, utilities, repairs, perhaps lawyers will begin selling used wills.
Materials for auto repairs would be taxed.
As would labor be taxed if you pay some one to do the work.
Bump for later reading.
No, the apologists who responded to me did not even remotely deal with the problem of the interest portion of mortgages.
**********************************************
The “expert” who wrote this column is so totally clueless (probably intentionally) that he is worried about deducting his interest on his home mortgage from his income tax when THERE WILL NO LONGER BE AN INCOME TAX ... cranks and crackpots like this are just attempting to “muddy the waters” on what is a very simple concept...
Clueless?
No, he accurately described the angry, bitter, and insulting behavior of FT/TP’s to a “T”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.