Posted on 01/06/2011 3:52:22 AM PST by phil_will1
Washington, DCOn Wednesday, January 5, 2011, Congressman Rob Woodall (GA-07) introduced H.R. 25, the FairTax. The FairTax legislation eliminates the current income tax paradigm and replaces it with a system of taxation based on consumption. The bill was introduced on Wednesday with 47 original co-sponsorsthe most original co-sponsors the bill has ever had for its initial introduction.
I committed to the Seventh District of Georgia that my efforts in Congress would focus on reclaiming freedom for the American people. It is for that reason that I am proud to make the FairTaxthe only bill that restores transparency and simplicity to our tax codemy very first action in Congress. I have said since its inception that the FairTax is not a tax bill; it is a freedom bill, Woodall said.
Woodall, who was sworn-in to Congress earlier in the day, played an integral role in crafting the original text of the FairTax as former Congressman John Linder's Chief of Staff when the bill was originally introduced in 1999.
"Our current tax system is a bloated, convoluted mess that gives government power over Americans' pockets. With 47 Members of Congress and counting signing their names to the FairTax, we are closer than ever before to voting on legislation that eliminates the frustrating mess that is the IRS."
Although the FairTax was introduced with 47 original co-sponsors, Woodall anticipates adding many more Members of Congress to the bill. Once the FairTax is introduced with the original co-sponsors, Members are able to sign on to the bill as co-sponsors throughout the 112th Congress.
"The number of signatures on the FairTax this time around is a testament to the will of the people. It is clear that Americans do not want to have their hard-earned money taken away and they want to reclaim the freedom to spend their money how they choose and when they choose.
The list of original co-sponsors is as follows:
1) Tom Price (GA)
2) Brian Bilbray (CA)
3 ) John Carter (TX)
4 ) Michael Conaway (TX)
5 ) John Duncan (TN)
6) Virginia Foxx (NC)
7) Steve King (IA)
8) Michael McCaul (TX)
9) Pete Olson (TX)
10 ) John Sullivan (OK)
11 ) Mac Thornberry (TX)
12) Phil Gingrey (GA)
13) Roscoe Bartlett (MD)
14) Don Young (AK)
15) Ander Crenshaw (FL)
16) Todd Akin (MO)
17) Lynn Westmoreland (GA)
18) Tom Graves (GA)
19) Gus Bilirakis (FL)
20) Ted Poe (TX)
21) Randy Neugebauer (TX)
22) Jeff Miller (FL)
23) Robert Wittman (VA)
24) Jack Kingston (GA)
25) Marlin Stutzman (IN)
26) Jeff Flake (AZ)
27) Billy Long (MO)
28) Cliff Stearns (FL)
29) Tim Walberg (MI)
30) Dennis Ross (FL)
31) Dan Boren (OK)
32) Mo Brooks (AL)
33) Darrell Issa (CA)
34) Richard Nugent (FL)
35) Tim Scott (SC)
36) Blake Farenthold (TX)
37) Jeff Duncan (SC)
38) Rob Bishop (UT)
39) Mike Pence (IN)
40) Sandy Adams (FL)
41) John Mica (FL)
42) Sue Wilkins Myrick (NC)
43) Dan Burton (IN)
44) John Culberson (TX)
45) James Lankford (OK)
46) Mike Pompeo (KS)
47) Gary Miller (CA)
###
-- Jennifer Drogus Communications Director Congressman-elect Rob Woodall
Seventh District of Georgia 202.225.4272 | jennifer.drogus@mail.house.gov
As I read these posts, I see very little discussion of how much life would be simplified by the Fair Tax.That's because you're wrong on most if not all points.
Wages, salaries and self-employment income are required to be reported.
If you want a (GAG!)"prebate" you'll have to disclose your dependants.
You are not "required" to disclose your charitable contributions now, what's your point?
How do you pay property taxes without the government knowing how much you paid?
If you have profits it means you sold something, you'll have to keep books on what and how much you sold it for, if they're taxable or not and if so remit 23% of your gross...including 23% of your self-employment income from services...How is that different again?
Savings and both interest paid and earned ARE taxable. There is a 23% tax on any amount over the basic FED FUND interest rate as well as a 23% (actually 30%) on any fees.
The Fairtax doesn't change banking laws requiring banks to report large deposits...so you could still hoard cash without the government knowing. But how is that any different?
Wages, salaries and self-employment income are required to be reported.
By whom? Certainly not the one that makes a purchase.
If you want a (GAG!)"prebate" you'll have to disclose your dependants.
This is the one point that separates you from demonstrating total ignorance of the Fair Tax. Obtaining a refund for overtaxation (prebate) does require disclosing some dependent information.
You are not "required" to disclose your charitable contributions now, what's your point?
You are "required" to do this if you want to pay the minimum legal tax.
How do you pay property taxes without the government knowing how much you paid?
I am sorry, I thought the topic was federal taxes. I do not pay property tax to the Feds. But, to get those wonderful federal income tax deductions, I have to tell the IRS how much I spent for the local property tax.
If you have profits it means you sold something, you'll have to keep books on what and how much you sold it for, if they're taxable or not and if so remit 23% of your gross...including 23% of your self-employment income from services...How is that different again?
You are way off. Profits are not taxed or reported to the government. Business record-keeping would also be simplified--a lot. The partners or stockholders may require detailed books to be kept, but the tax bureaucracy has no legitimate interest in net profit. They need to know the total of retail sales. If your sales are all to other businesses to use in their product, your business owes no Fair Tax. Items or services sold at retail would indeed require record-keeping, with records very similar to records used to pay state sales tax.
Savings and both interest paid and earned ARE taxable.
Wrong. Interest or dividends from investments are not taxed when received by the consumer. When paying "interest" on a loan, the payment has two components--interest and service. Fair Tax is paid on the service portion. The tax on financial instruments is only on the service portion. Buy stock at a brokerage and pay no tax on the stock and Fair Tax on the broker's commission.
That's because you're wrong on most if not all points.
I do wish you would try to read and comprehend the Fair Tax bill. It must be tiresome spreading so much misinformation.
By whom? Certainly not the one that makes a purchase.LOL! HUH?
You are "required" to do this if you want to pay the minimum legal tax.No, you choose to do it, no one requires you to do it...were you saying someting about ignorance?
I am sorry, I thought the topic was federal taxes. I do not pay property tax to the Feds. But, to get those wonderful federal income tax deductions, I have to tell the IRS how much I spent for the local property tax.Property taxes are public information. Even your neighbor can know how much you pay. The fact YOU CHOOSE to voluntarily tell the IRS is your problem...ignorance is bliss.
You are way off. Profits are not taxed or reported to the government.The Fairtax law is NOT written for the consumer. The 23% rate is what the business pays, not the consumer. The 23% tax is a percentage OF the (taxable) gross including profits, so the Fairtax does indeed tax profits...Yet more ignorance of the concept
Wrong. Interest or dividends from investments are not taxed when received by the consumer. When paying "interest" on a loan, the payment has two components--interest and service. Fair Tax is paid on the service portion.`(3) IMPLICITLY CHARGED FEES FOR FINANCIAL INTERMEDIATION SERVICES-
I do wish you would try to read and comprehend the Fair Tax bill. It must be tiresome spreading so much misinformation.
Over the next 25 years, Congress added FIVE tax rates and more than 18,000 Amendments to the Tax Code (so it is no longer “flat”), at an average of more than FOUR Amendments PER DAY it is in session. Each of those Amendments gave a TAX BREAK to a friend or contributor of someone in Congress, shrinking the tax base incrementally. The result is that we are worse off than we would have been if Congress had done nothing.
American retail prices still have a 26% average federal tax component in their product pricing, imports are still not taxed, Americans still spend more than $400 billion per year on compliance costs, we still have our $1.5 trillion trade deficit, production lines and jobs continue to migrate overseas, the funding for Social Security and Medicare are still Ponzi schemes (soon to be broke), and the IRS collects less than 49% of the Income Tax owed - that figure keeps shrinking and collection costs keep rising, as the Tax Code grows. No, we do not need to try the flat tax again.
Conclusion: we HAVE to get rid of the Income Tax AND its Tax Code. The only tax bill that does that is H.R.25, The Fair Tax Act. It has 48 co-sponsors already. How many does the flat tax have, this time around?
We've never had a flat tax and there is NOT "26% average" federal tax component in our product pricing.
Enjoy the koolaid at the Fairtax meet and greet??
Point of sale times the number of transactions equals the degree of intrusion. With the combined load of the Feds and the States adding half-again the purchase price, you can bet your bottom dollar that people will avoid paying it. Cash and barter transactions will become more common. In order to enforce their take, the Feds would have to engage in not only illegal searches and seizures, but massive sting operations to get their cut. If you think the IRS is intrusive now, just wait until your "FareTax" induces a police state with revenue collectors everywhere deeming what constitutes barter or not.
Your statement might be accurate if it weren't for the fact the tax rate will be 23%, not 50% and that the prebate will reimburse people monthly for taxes paid on necessities up to the poverty level in order to lessen the burden on low income earners.
Typical FAREtax duplicity. There isn't a single other sales tax anywhere that isn't calculated as a fraction of the base transaction. Not one. Yet your FAREtax advocates calculate its impact as the fraction of tax AFTER it is assessed, a duplicitous practice at best. The actual rate is 0.23/(1-0.23) = 0.30 or 30%, as I said. Your second failing is failure to read: I said "(as they would in California)," meaning that the total sales tax would consist of the FAREtax hit, PLUS California's existing sales tax of 8.5% of the base transaction, PLUS the amount California would need to ADD because the lack of a 1040 would make a State income tax untenable. Hence, California would need to bump its State 8.5% sales tax to make up for lost income tax revenue. Given that the average marginal State income tax rate in California is now 12.5%, I swagged that the sales tax rate would have to rise to nearly 20% to cover both the existing sales tax plus the rate needed to make up for the now defunct State income tax. Hence, 30% Federal NRST + 20% SRST = 50% total sales tax, which is what I said above. Even if it was 5% less, it's still too much to keep people from cheating.
If you think for one minute people won't do everything they can to avoid a 50% sales tax rate, I've got news for you. As I said, look at the market for bootleg cigarettes and booze.
People will be far less likely to bootleg any product considering their purchasing power will increase since federal income taxes will no longer be deducted from their paychecks or dividend checks.
You people are something else. Never in human history have people been so overjoyed to know what they're actually paying for government that they take their fattened paychecks and willingly go find a government agent to pay at a kid's lemonade stand. You seem to think that the entirety of retail is at electronic cash registers.
So, how are they doing collecting that existing Federal tax on marijuana?
So your alternative is to keep in place a tax code that...
So, not only are you dishonest, but putting words in my mouth as a straw-man will get you ignored from now on, that is, unless I feel like rubbing your sanctimonious nose in your BS numbers again. G_d's system was an income tax, but it was only a 10% flat tax. Nor am I totally opposed to tariffs. I think sales taxes are fine as long as one can keep the real rate, State and Federal included, below 15%. Beyond that and people will cheat, in droves, no matter how much cash they've got. Hence, the real problem is the scope and cost of government, not the tax system. My focus is cutting spending and regulation for those operations not specifically listed in the Constitution because that is where our focus must be.
I’m a bit late to see the thread. I travel all the time, its my job.
National sales tax is actually the singular thing that could destroy the progressive movement. When all citizens become ‘vested’ in the taxation issue, it will destroy the class warfare card played by progressives, and make pleas for “investing” in progressives little communist programs very unpopular because raising taxes means EVERYBODY pays more taxes. Kind of takes the fun out of massive wasteful spending.
If phased in incrementally, while fed withholding is phased out also incrementally, there should be limited impact on economy. If the process begins with phase out of withholding first, there could actually be a small uptick in economy seems to me. Since the idea of a ‘tax holiday’ to spur economy has already been floating around, it seems possible.
What we need are some pres candidates to push this. If they wwin they can claim a mandate for it. Fairtax sounds like a step in right direction but National Sales Tax is better . Neal Bortz has been pushing it for years.
Even illegals and tourists would have to pay a national sales tax, another bonus.
I think the point you actually make here is if fairtax was in place 20 years ago it might have stopped States like California from going on massive spending sprees. Taxpayers will quickly grow adverse to big govt spending.
Also, because income is not withheld by fed, you have more cash to pay the pos tax, painless
Not a problem — you have kept the thread alive and added new perspective.
The reason there is so much difficulty in getting Congress and many Americans to support FairTax is PRECISELY BECAUSE FairTax will destroy the Progressive movement.
That is one of the major reasons I and many other Real Americans support it — Progressives have been attempting to destroy America since roughly 1900. They have very nearly succeeded.
It is likely that Real Americans will spend the next 100 years rebuilding America.
And, it starts with the FairTax.
For the sake of my children and grandchildren, and my countrymen and women, I hope and pray (and am working diligently to ensure that) we succeed.
If the bright light of FReedom is extinguished in the USA, as the Progressives are attempting to do, it will be hundreds of years before it is relit.
I would not wish a 21st Century Dark Ages on anyone!
I sure hope we can succeed in getting this in 2012 but the campaign for it must begin now. Let’s get some activism going?
I recommend that you check out http://www.fairtax.org. All sorts of helpful information there.
Educate yourself and then get involved. There may be a local FairTax chapter near you.
We have a several active chapters in the greater Jacksonville area.
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