FOR EXCELLENCE IN POSTING
Posted on 10/22/2007 5:42:43 PM PDT by xcamel
The U.S. Tax Code is a perennial whipping boy, and rightly so. It’s unfair and horribly complex. But the current system does have certain virtues that go unsung.
For starters, the current system is “in place.” All the compliance and collection mechanisms of the Internal Revenue Service are up and running, and have been since ratification of the 16th Amendment in 1913.
Also, the current system brings in around $2.5 trillion. It would be way more than enough to fund the federal government were it not for earmarks, pork and programs for which the feds have no constitutional authority.
But some would like to replace the IRS with a totally new system. One such idea is the so-called FairTax, which is a national retail sales tax. Bruce Bartlett pretty well debunks this idea in “FairTax, Flawed Tax,” (The Wall Street Journal, Aug. 25, 2007).
Here are some additional reasons to reject this idea.
One axiom of the last 30 years is if you tax something, you get less of it. Since consumption drives about two-thirds of the U.S. economy, isn’t it a rather dangerous idea to tax it? And that’s exactly what the FairTax would do — tax the main engine of the economy.
That brings us to another virtue of the current system. It collects taxes “up front,” when the taxpayer receives his income, not when he spends it.
Indeed, one of the selling points of the FairTax is that it is a discretionary tax — you don’t pay the tax unless you buy something. So under the FairTax the feds would be waiting around for you to buy something so they could get their cut.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Hmmm, $20,000,000 in researching the Fair Tax, Economics depts at Harvard, Texas etc studied the Fair Tax and the authors seems to know better. The Fair Tax is nothing less than the 2nd American revolution
***That brings us to another virtue of the current system. It collects taxes “up front,” when the taxpayer receives his income, not when he spends it. ***
How is that a virtue? I would rather decide to pay a tax when I decide to buy something.
closer-to-the-truth ping
And 8 years completely misrepresenting what the research said.
Best answers $20 mil could buy for a bunch of country-club tax cheats.
Try again.
And of course everyone would hold buying stuff till the end of the fiscal year. No clothes, food, beer, etc...
What a pantload.
So far, the only people I know of are against it are Politicians (it takes away THEIR POWER) and LIBERALS (ibid)
When you “decide” to eat or “decide” to have kids or “decide” to drive to work or “decide” not to live in a tent ???
sheesh.
Here, I found a mistake. I will fix it for them. I am surprised this made it past the editors.
It would be way more than enough to fund the federal government were it not for earmarks, pork and “Bush’s illegal war in Iraq!”
I am surprised they left that out.
** That brings us to another virtue of the current system. It collects taxes “up front,” when the taxpayer receives his income, not when he spends it. **
“WE KNOW BETTER HOW TO SPEND YOUR MONEY!”
Thank you, BIG BROTHER
I can’t wait for the dealers in the ghetto to pay taxes on their Navigators and Hummers. What a great day that will be!
People with large savings and homebuilders should be against it, if they really understood the economics of it. There will be a lot of winners under the fairtax, but don't be so dumb to believe the propaganda that everyone is a winner. A system that collects the same amount of tax will produce winners and losers, and anyone who claims otherwise is a liar. Period.
yes ... I DECIDE ... not your Precious PARTY...
In order to trash the fair tax, one of two things must happen, Change the parameters of the discussion or 2. LIE YOUR BUTT OFF
For starters, the current system is “in place.” All the compliance and collection mechanisms of the Internal Revenue Service are up and running,
'scuse me a minute - gotta get a cup of coffee and get my guffawing laughter under control
Let's see. That rationale could be applied to any evil and/or cockamamie scheme that ever was. Let's take one example: What if Reagan, instead of saying "Tear Down this Wall." He said:
The U.S. Tax Code Communist System in Russia is a perennial whipping boy, and rightly so. It’s unfair and horribly complex. But the current system does have certain virtues that go unsung.
For starters, the current system is “in place.” All the compliance and collection mechanisms of the Internal Revenue Service Communist Regime are up and running...
**A system that collects the same amount of tax will produce winners and losers, **
THAT WAS THE WHOLE IDEA OF REVENUE NEUTRALITY... once the Liberal Whiners and the RINO’s Stop Wasting MY MONEY on Giveaways to illegals, and PC charities.
I”LL TAKE THE CHANCE... I want Opportunity to WIN ... NOT the Stalinist liberal idea of equality of outcome.
ONCE AGAIN .. I”LL TAKE MY CHANCES and ,neverright, you and your Politicos .. LEAVE ME THE F*** ALONE
Only the illusion of a decision, my friend, only and illusion.
look up the concept of “permission to live tax” - absolutely against every founding premise of this country.
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