Perry talks tax, energy (military)

Post and Courier ^ | January 15, 2012 | David Quick

[John Valentine]

Interest on savings will no longer be taxed under The FairTax.

Although your reply was indeed helpful to me, this particular part of your reply wasn't, since it does not even come close to addressing the issue.

In a nutshell: Over my lifetime, I have paid tax on my earnings, and a part of those taxed earnings have been saved. And the interest I have earned, and the dividends I have been paid have also all been taxed as they were earned and plowed back into savings.

The Fair Tax would now tax me yet again as I spend these savings, which have ALREADY been taxed once and would not be taxed again except by the "Fair Tax".

THIS is the practical issue that has not been dealt with as far as i know. After all, what does any vendor collecting the Fair Tax know about where the money came from? In fact this "income source neutrality" is one of the attractive features of the Fair Tax, except that it really sn't very fair to me.i

[gogogodzilla]

Wow, you take the word of a politician at face value.

So, care to guess what'll happen after the issue dies down and the other party eventually returns to power in Congress?

Wait, I already explained this. Here, let me reprint it, as it's pretty obvious you stopped reading after my second sentence..

I’m arguing that once the federal government taxes you in some way, it remains a valid way to tax in the eyes of the politicians and a sizeable chunk of the electorate. And you’d add a federal sales tax into that mix.

Which means, at some future point in time, there *WILL* be a call to have both.

Conservatives don't trust government... and that includes politicians. You should remember that. So don't hand them even more ways to get into your pocket.

It's *THAT* simple.

[Apollo5600]

The Sales Tax is the superior model. We actually pay less in taxes than we do now, with a greater return in revenue for the government. It is a good solution. Cain was the real candidate who had this going, but conservatives rejected him based on propaganda from folks who wanted weaklings like Romney or their “social” conservative like Santorum or Bachmann. Despite all the propaganda that came out, the Sales Tax IS the best choice.

With that said, I still support Rick Perry. A Flat Tax is a good step in the right direction, even though it is tax simplification and not tax reform. Once things get back to normal and we have Perry as the nominee, a Herman Cain campaign (which he is working on) can really do some good in bringing the Sales Tax back into a rational debate amongst conservatives.

[John Valentine]

Are you then arguing we should keep an increasingly oppressive and complex tax code further encroaching on the freedoms of future generations of your family and others so you can avoid what you perceive as double taxation?

I am beginning to feel a certain disgust at your style of conversation. Obviously you do not proceed from a position of sincerity.

Of course I am not arguing that "we should keep an increasingly oppressive and complex tax code further encroaching on the freedoms of future generations." That's nonsense and you know it. You are engaging in sophistry to even toss a statement like that into the conversation.

And I not "perceiving" the Fair Tax as double taxation of my savings; it IS double taxation of my savings. You know that too, and you acknowledge it later in your post when you point out that the unfairness of the double taxation will decrease with the passage of time

How nice to know.