Olivastro: Time to Repeal the Income Tax (Article and Poll)

GOP USA ^ | January 20, 2011 10:33 am | Richard Olivastro

[so_real]

The persistent reduction of citizens retained earnings and the compression of individual free choice options — installed through an insidious income tax system and set of nefarious regulatory schemes – is indeed endemic of the very abuses and usurpations that gave our forefathers just cause to birth the Declaration of Independence.

[so_real]

Great article concluding the IRS can indeed be abolished in its present form. Scroll to the bottom. There is a poll regarding the replacement of the income tax and it has a sales tax option included! Let your opinion be known.

[Emperor Palpatine]

Considering the 16th Amendment was never ratified by the senate, its high time.

[GeronL]

Flat tax is winning.

good.

Anything with “prebates” is retarded

[Jim W N]

10% Flat Sales Tax and

REPEAL OBMAMIECOMMIECARE.

[PubliusMM]

At 1627ET:
Scrap the Income Tax?
NO - retain the current multiple rate Income Tax 0.86% (8 votes)

YES - replace it with a single rate Income Tax 25.91% (241 votes)

YES - replace it with a single rate Sales Tax only 68.71% (639 votes)

YES - replace it with a single rate Head Tax only 4.52% (42 votes)

Total Votes: 930

[MsLady]

It would be interesting to know if we ended all federal government agencies except the ones that protect the country. And all state programs except those that protect the state and citizens. How much would we save? And how much more money would each one of us as working individuals would have? Right now our phone bill is $40, after the taxes are added it’s $66. About half the price of gas is taxes, same with electric...ect.

[so_real]

I do know a bit about the FairTax, which does have a "prebate" built into it for those living below the poverty line. I can certainly appreciate that the slippery slope of where the poverty line is drawn (and who falls below it) is a recipe for abuse. But, with so many people indoctrinated into the government safety net system, how can we move forward with reform without such a provision? The negative PR would cause considerable hurt. I don't disagree with you. Just looking for a viable alternative.

[SeeSharp]

10% Flat Sales Tax

Social Security alone is 15.3% now.

[Jean2]

I never knew that. I thought that all amendments had to be ratified by the senate.

[Emperor Palpatine]

They do.....however there was a LOT of backroom shenanigans when this one allegedly passed. (Especially with the Massachussetts senators - Massachussetts, go figure.)

[Aevery_Freeman]

I agree that prebates are ripe for abuse but I have other problems with the VAT tax in any form.

After having coughed up over 30% of everything I earned all my life, I am now faced with the possibility of having all the money I've saved taxed at roughly the same rate when I need to spend it in retirement.

This seems so d*mn unfair that it will probably come to pass.

[BenKenobi]

I’m one of those folks, and frankly, it would do me quite a bit of good dropping the exemptation and going to sales tax only.

With sales tax only I don’t have to pay any tax whatsoever unless I choose to buy something. I have full control over the tax I pay, not the government.

With no income taxes, labour costs will come down, and efficiency will go up which means the cost of stuff I buy would go down too. So even though I’m not the direct beneficiary, it’s still dollars I get to keep in my pocketbook.

[musicman]

Have YOU Donated To FR Yet?
Less Than $6.5k To Go!!

[GeronL]

The “Fair Tax” plan I read said that EVERYONE would get a monthly “prebate” from the government. This is a way that government can make the middle class their b*&^h, making them addicted to getting a government check.

All the leftists have to do is promised a higher prebate than the Republicans. Then there is the bureaucracy to carry all of this off, mind-boggling.

[freedomfiter2]

I couldn’t vote. The fair tax wasn’t given as an option.

[Sergio]

Bookmark.

[dsrtsage]

I’m a big proponent of the fair tax. But, it must do away with the stupid prebate.

[so_real]

In The FairTax Prebate Explained 2007 it indicates families have to file to receive the prebate, and must renew their application on an annual basis. Also :

Calculation of the prebate
The monthly prebate check is calculated by multiplying the annual poverty level spending published each year by the Department of Health and Human Services times the FairTax rate and dividing by twelve. Poverty level spending represents what it costs families of varying household size and composition to buy their necessities. Figure 2 shows the monthly prebate amount for households of varying composition.

So the opportunities for shenanigans are in the calculation of poverty line spending (which can be audited -- so it is at least public information) and the FairTax rate which everyone else is also tied to (playing with the rate affects everyone equally so no unfair advantage or disadvantage can be introduced that way). There is a slippery slope in setting the poverty line level. But, because the FairTax method is tied to poverty level *spending*, and not poverty level *income*, it is still at least better than we have today.

[so_real]

I couldn’t vote. The fair tax wasn’t given as an option.

True ... but the fair tax is a form of single rate sales tax ...

[so_real]

After having coughed up over 30% of everything I earned all my life, I am now faced with the possibility of having all the money I've saved taxed at roughly the same rate when I need to spend it in retirement.

Though I have a few years to go before I retire, I am in the same frustrating boat my FRiend. I see it coming. And I get ulcers when I hear the libs talking about a 1% transaction tax on my money and windfall retirement taxation. They are going to either take all they can, or take what what we permit them to take. It's up to us to make the choice and show some teeth about it. If we don't draw a line somewhere, the default is for them to take it all.