I hope President-elect Obama has taken the time to really study H.R. 25 the FairTax bill. I know for some strange reason this has become a partisan bill. This bill will help all Americans not just Republicans. I’m a Democrat and I’m sure it will help our family. With the state our economy is in, President-elect Obama should give this bill some real consideration. Talk about a stimulus package; everyone receives their gross paycheck and a prebate “stimulus” check at the beginning of each month. A family of four would receive over $500 at the beginning of each month. This alone will pay a huge portion of their mortgage payment, thus preventing many, would be foreclosures. Honest taxpaying Americans are getting tired of making up the revenue that is lost because of the huge group of people living in our country who don’t contribute one dime to support our Federal Government.

I would consider #2 a “pro”. While H&R block would have to change it’s focus (and they could diversify into money management) I wouldn’t mind seeing the IRS being slashed back to a tiny fraction of it’s current size. Yeah, people would lose cushy government jobs, but people lose jobs every day and the world keeps on turning. Reducing the size of government is far more important in my opinion.

I am sorry to say but many of your Con’s are inaccurate.
#2 not that big of a deal, there are not that many people working in that industry compared to the benefits that would be brought by the fairtax being inacted, including much more money coming back to the states to be invested because there are no taxes on investements nor doing business.
#4/6 the tax would not be 30% unless you look at it as a exclusive tax, being proposed currently is an inclusive tax, you see is has been studied that their is roughly 22% of embeded taxes in all goods and services already because of business taxes, compliance costs and taxes in the supply chain. When you inact the fairtax those taxes of 22% will reduce the cost of the goods and services due to competition. So a $100 dollar coat now costs $78, add $22 of taxes and being inclusive that coat is still $100 and $22 of $100 is 22% inclusively. Exclusivly is appears to be 30%. Also at the same time though everyone is taking home their full paycheck as opposed to only 75%. This ends up meaning you take home 25% more or all of your paycheck and your goods and services costs the same. This would result in the ability to buy more goods. People would spend more, businesses would come home to the states because they aren’t being taxed and therefore more jobs being available.
#8 Entitlements would not be increased already no one is taxed on income up to the poverty line. In fact this would encourage people to work more because if they work harder and make more money they keep it. They can buy 2nd hand and not paying taxes and save easier. The 489 billion is already lost due to the fact that we don’t collect taxes on the wages up to the poverty level. Also plz don’t use wikipedia for quotes.
#10 taxes will be collected from roughly 22 million businesses rather then 158 million people and business which means tax evasion should be less because companies have much more at stake as opposed to an individual, there are less points to keep track of and a business has little to gain but alot to risk with high penalties for not paying taxes.

Plz take these points into consideration and spread the word. It is very easy to misunderstand the fairtax theory and misrepresent it as its opposition does often. But it remains the best idea for our country. Plz visit http://www.fairtax.org for more info and possibly pick up the fairtax book.

PS - #9 is huge. Broadening the tax base will healp keep SS and Medicare from going out of business. Also it’s fair, it gets everyone to pay up while providing the poor with enough to compensate for the taxes they would have to pay for necessary goods and services. All this while the payments out only go to legal US citizen. More people paying in less people taking out. Its the only sustainable solution to our unsustainable mess.

Just read your about the blog and just want to say I hope you dont take my previous message as rude. Nice to see other young people interested in our economy, now if only we could get these idiots out of congress.

Quoting the FairTax on an exclusive manner may be easier for people to understand but it is incorrect unless you show the current income tax rates on an exclusive basis. Otherwise this gives a false impression of the FairTax. It replaces the income tax so therefore should be quoted the same way.

The FairTax is not added ontop of the price of goods.
Lastly, many current IRS workers would be transfered to the S.S. Dept. to handle the prebate checks. This would be a much more constructive job for them.

I not only support FairTax but I am trying to get others to support Fair Tax as well.
You claim that on some of your Con’s and you are not correct. As in Con #4, It is not 30% to 34% on Consumption Tax is not true at all . Economist have studied this and the tax on New Consumption will be at 23%. So an American car like Ford would be competitive with foreign car like Toyota which would cost much more, Therefore a Ford would be competitive overseas Market as well creating jobs here in American not in a Toyota factory.

You also will get a “prebate” every month so to help the poor at or below poverty level based on SS # if you don’t have a SS# you will not be getting a “prebate”. Even if you are not working you still pay taxes not collection from those who are working like today.There for every one who is not a citizen will not get a “prebate” and still will have to pay taxes. So your claim to Con# 8 is not true either.

Do not be worry about IRS workers, Instead of wasting about $300,000 billion in trying to collect your taxes and find a way to to “catch” people cheating on the taxation which consisted of 67,000 pages of a Income Tax Code that the IRS can not understand and even Congress has published it does not understand.

It has been studied by Economist that if FairTax was implemented that $ 13 Trillion in foreign banks that is ‘hidden” from the IRS to avoided the taxation of this country government would in MONTHS would start to flow back into our country’s economy. Yes $ 13 Trillion would pay off the national debt as it stands today and another saving of $ 300,000 from downsizing the government by abolishing the IRS. Therefore this will cause our Corporations and small companies to return creating more jobs and trust me plenty of work with more jobs than American worker including IRS who loss their job. IRS job that WAS trying to “catch’ you cheating.. I am happy to tell you all this is your stimulus package your government is looking for it’s under their noise. FairTax is the most studies Taxation in the world by many economist and all agreed it is the only taxation to be progressive to create not destroy an economy.

Fair Tax IS NOT Flat Tax! Flat Tax is another way to be call Income Taxation the same thing we have today. Please do not let anyone tell you different! If Flat Tax is implemented it would revert back to Income Taxation is a few years thus keeping what we have today.
Fair Tax is the only answer to stimulate the country economy and make every American live their American Dream life again.
Please ask yourself to check our FairTax on http://www.fairtax.org it is worth you time.
Thank you
Charlie Prochaska
Leesburg Ga

I’ve read a number of articles on the so called “fair tax” and it seems to me that there is an aggresive and vocal minority putting the most optimistic spin on a plan that would actually amount to a tax INCREASE for anyone making $25,000 to $1,000,000. That’s me and almost everyone I know. Also, it doesn’t address current deficit spending and where Clinton did balance budgets - Pres. Bush reversed course which makes this all the harder to implement. Deficit spending is not going away under Pres. Obama either. Then you have the expansion of taxable goods and services which would include rent, legal fees, utilities, Doctor bills, etc. under the fair tax’s proposed 100% base. Tough sale.

It’s an interesting theory that I was initially in favor of but upon further inspection it’s a free lunch for the poor and a handout to the super rich - all of whom will be able to live tax free as a percentage of their income. Also, never underestimate the ability of citizens to avoid paying taxes! Eventually people will end up paying a higher sales tax rate to make up for the shortfalls in avoided taxes and optimistic spending projections that may not occur. Given the roller coaster ride the nation has been on a the fuel pump in the last 12 months the pain at the pump would’ve been made worse by the massive tax increase the fair tax would impose on consumers. There is too much instabity in the market for the fair tax to work. I think for any fair tax plan to really work it would still need to include some income tax for the highest incomes and some market controls that most would rightly oppose out of principle. Like the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true it probably is.

I support the “Fair Tax Act of 2009″ because I believe that it is not only fair but the best course for everyone. The current system of taxation unduly taxes the middle and lower income wage earners. This burdens the “free capitalism” economic system that we have, forcing the U.S. Government to intervene at inopportune times with terrible repercussions. The WAGE tax not only taxes the individual, but also creates a barrier to business expansion by reducing revenue that could be used to hire more employees, about 10 to 15% more employees, in my estimation. This alone would stimulate the economy more than the stimulus packages already passed. And look at the savings. 23 – 27 percent increase in state sales tax, for most people, will balance with a 20 – 30 percent reduction in IRS taxes. However, don’t overlook that the estate and gift taxes will be repealed. For those who are savers, this will allow you to save and invest that much more.

I do not support the so called fair tax, I am now retired and do not pay too much taxes these days, but the lord knows I paid more then my share over the years,and I do not think it would be fair now for me to pay extreme taxes on things I want and need, no it is not fair, to me and my wife at all, please dont come back with the little you get returned, ti wouldnt help much, and the only thing I would have is I would not be able to buy any extras or very few, no thanks, it is not fair especially to the old folks like myself

No disrespect intended to Jimmy, but his view is part of the problem. Holding on to an out of date unfair practice because the “Old People” have done it this way and it would not be fair to them now is just silly. The Fair Tax benefits all individuals and business alike. We need to get past this like minded “old people” in congresses that are unwilling to branch out to something new because it’s not how our dads did it. Is the Status quo the best we can do? Jimmy, what about your Kids, Grandkids, Great Grand Kids? Don’t they deserve better? Fight for the Fair Tax act.

Another con I have heard: businesses will have the burden of collecting the national sales tax and reporting/submitting it, which is an expense they will shoulder for the rest of us
Solution: Allow them to keep a small portion to cover their expenses.

However, I suspect that this burden compared to filing under the current system will be less expensive anyway.

I believe that National Security is the #1 reason to support the fair tax. Our current system puts domestic business and production at such a disadvantage vs. China, India, etc that we have largely lost our industrial base and we are now losing our service base AND white collar jobs. Some estimate that we will lose 40,000,000 more jobs (yes, that’s million). In 2008, IBM cut 6000 US jobs and added 18000 in India. A March 09 WSJ article says, “IBM plans to lay off about 5,000 U.S. employees, with many of the jobs being transferred to India, according to people familiar with the situation.” http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123799610031239341.html

We can debate how adopting the fair tax will affect you or me or the rich or the poor or the working or the retired, but unless we level the playing field for US production vs. China and India, we will all be living out a slow economic suicide. Patriotism and pragmatism demands that we find a better way — soon.

The best description I have seen of where we are headed without change is in the book, “The War for Wealth” by Gabor Steingart. The front cover quote of Dr. Henry Kissenger reads, “A lucid and compelling reality check.” Read this book, get a grip on where we are headed, THEN critique the fair tax.

Jimmy, I would like you to reconsider your position on the fair tax. I have copied an excerpt from the fairtax.org website for you to read. I hope this helps change your mind. Please reconsider the facts.

http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_faq_answers#13

What about senior citizens, retired people, and anyone on a fixed income?

As a group, seniors do very well under the FairTax. Low-income seniors are much better off under the FairTax than under the current income tax system.

Some erroneously believe that people who live exclusively on Social Security pay no taxes. They may not know it, but they are paying hidden corporate income taxes and employer payroll taxes whenever they buy anything. Under the FairTax, seniors pay $0.23 out of every dollar they choose to spend on new goods and services.

Plus, seniors, like everyone else, receive a monthly prebate, in advance of purchases, for taxes paid on the cost of necessities which more than pays for all of the taxes they would pay if they received the average Social Security benefit amount and spent it all. If seniors choose to work, they are freed from regressive payroll taxes, the federal income tax on wages, and the compliance burdens associated with each. They pay no more hidden taxes on goods or services, and used goods are tax free. There is no income tax on their Social Security benefits.

The income tax imposed on investment income and pension benefits or IRA withdrawals is repealed. Pension funds, IRAs, and 401(k) plans had assets of $12 trillion in 2004. An income tax deduction was taken for contributions to most of these plans. All beneficiaries and owners of these plans expected to pay income tax on them upon withdrawal, but are not required to do so under the FairTax.

All owners of existing homes experience large capital gains due to the repeal of the income tax and implementation of the FairTax Plan. Seniors have dramatically higher home ownership rates than other age groups (81 percent for seniors compared to 65 percent on average). Homes are often a family’s largest asset. Gains are likely to be in the range of 20 percent.

The FairTax makes the economy much more dynamic and prosperous. Consequently, federal tax revenues grow. This makes it less likely that federal budget pressures require Medicare or Social Security benefit cuts.

@It’s a tax increase for me
True, but considering we are already taxed at between 22 to 23% on our income (in my case weekly). This would go away to be replaced by a national sales tax. Lets not forget it also would abolish import taxes. Which would lower production costs, which in turn would mean lower over counter costs for goods.
And one other good point alot of people miss is that now the 100 billion drug trade would be paying there fair share which is not possible under current taxation.

@Jimmy
Jimmy did you vote for Obama? If you did he is the reason why your grandchildren and possible your great grandchildren will be paying for his new budget. Is that fair to them? Besides there are provisions in the fair tax for people on fixed incomes its called a prebate check.

I agree, the pros far outweigh the cons. However, one issue that is not even addressed in this analysis is the 13 trillion dollars worth of outsourced revenue that would be attracted back to the US. And that’s just the beginning. As stated in the article, the fair tax is levied on consumption, rather than production. Therefore, Con #4 is completely bogus. Upon enaction of the fair tax, we would not only recoup the money that is now being spent to feed the economies of countries overseas, not all of them friendly to us, but we would have other countries bringing their businesses here, simply because it would make so much more sense for them to do so on their bottom line. When that happens, there will be more work to be done than people available to do it, which would actually mean a job for everyone who wants to work. Really, has anyone even considered what it would be like to have an unemployment rating on the negative side of zero? That would certainly raise the wages of American workers my leaps and bounds. Of course, there are those who are unable to work, or just don’t want to. That’s a consideration, but the potential influx of revenue to our economy, when you think of all the sources this would present, is staggering! Our economy would once again be the giant it once was, and, once again, the envy of the world. (with exception of the third world dictatorships whose nations have always been, and will always be in economic ruin.) But even they would be making secret investments in our economy, and denying it at every turn. Fair tax now, abolish the IRS. It’s time to turn this nation around, for the better, for a change.

What about tourists visiting the U.S.? Subjecting them to this tax is unfair, essentially a massive tariff, and once the word gets out about how expensive it is to visit, nobody will come. This will drive us to create tax exempt cards for tourists, but then these would be counterfeited.

Or maybe tourists save receipts and get reimbursed on the way out.

@mike

Um, my children and grandchildren will be paying for Bush’s war. Obama’s additions account for 7% of the current deficit, whereas Bush took an $800 billion surplus and inverted it. Obama’s “bailouts” are to be repaid; Bush’s spending was waste.

Finally, Bush raised spending and lowered tax revenue. What happens when you increase spending and lower income? Take some time to figure that out if you must. When Obama increases taxes, as he certainly HAS to do before our creditors come calling, it will be to pay off Bush’s debt. Point your arrows toward the correct target and stop hamstringing the people who are trying to fix your broken country.

I agree with you Derek. What I think people are forgeting is how devistating 9/11 was on the economy. I also argree that spending Trillions of dollars of the American publics money is wrong and irresponsible. Something is really going wrong in the minds of some Americans. Common since will tell me at 26 years old that the government of the USA has no place running car companies and giving money to financial institutions. One of the big reasons these companies are having such a hard time is the fact of too much government regulation unfair trade policies.

I am sure that I am not the first to point this out, but whoever wrote this obviously does NOT understand how the fair tax works. It will not INCREASE the cost of ANYTHING we buy. The fair tax REPLACES the imbedded taxes ALREADY in everything we currently buy. So what costs you $100 before the fair tax will still cost $100 after the fair tax. So items #4 and #6 are incorrect.

I encourage ALL to read the Fair Tax book and its follow up Answering the Critics, so that when you read articles like this one, you know whats true and what isn’t. GO FAIR TAX!

i think this is a great idea and i never considered that everyone gets taxed citizen or not and the drug dealers to

To the advocates of fair tax. Have any of you investigated why it took so long for us to get out of the Great Depression? The answer:
the people who had money and could afford to spend it, did not!
Since spending for all discretionary items would be totally optional,
What makes you think they would necessarily spend large amounts so they would pay there fair share of taxes?
What is wrong with a flat tax, no other tax but a complusory amount, less only a break for the lowest incomes.
It would be removed by the giver and sent to the fed.
Some said a nagative would be that it could revert to our current income tax method, wouldn’t that also apply to a fair tax?
Also some claim drug money would be included with a fair tax, how do you know that drug cartel money is spent in the US?
Also Russia and several other countries in eastern Europe are using the flat tax and love it. Big money people are suddenly paying their share.
So it is a proven. Fair tax has not been proven.

Bob,

The basic cocept of a sales tax is well proven. Several of the united states have no state income tax and use a sales tax instead. I believe Texas, Florida, and Tennesee are among them.

Fair Tax is a sales tax, not hard to do or prove.

@Derek Clark
Actually, during Reagan’s tour tax revenues decreased by 1.2% of GDP according to the GAO. Bush did even worse 1.5% decrease. Tax revenues do sometimes increase but not always when taxes are lowered. It depends on the situation and what other events are taking place. The Fair Tax replaces many taxes already being collected.

You’ve got it wrong. It is NOT a “sales tax” ADD ON as you imply. Since the tax which WAS paid formerly along the line to bring the product or service to availability has been removed and no longer has to be covered the COST of bringing the product or service to availability is less, so that when the Fair Tax is included the final price to the consumer will be the same as it was. Now if there is a separate STATE SALES TAX that is something else, but all federal tax, payroll tax, inheritance tax, etc will no longer exist for anyone. The Fair Tax is an included or embedded tax. See “The Fair Tax Book” and “FairTax:THETRUTH” (Both Neal Boortz/Linder) and read carefully and completely

The message “It looks like you’ve already said that’, is incorrect. Nothing I have said appeared! Third try:
Your number 4 and number 6 are misleading and incorrect. The Fair Tax is not an ADD ON “sales tax”. The Fair Tax is a tax included in the price to the consumer such that the price to the consumer is the SAME as it was before the Fair Tax. In bringing a product or service to availability all taxes along the line of bringing that product or service to the consumer must be included in that price. If ALL such federal taxes are removed and he Fair Tax then added as an included (embedded) tax then the overall price to the consumer will be the SAME (but now including the Fair Tax) as it was. The difference is that NO ONE pays ANY federal tax. (Now STATE SALES TAX etc may still exist)

Ed Selander,

You seem to believe in the Fairtax myth that all embedded costs of the income tax system would be removed and, after adding the sales tax, retail prices would be about the same. This is just not true! Here’s why:

First, you need to understand just what percentage cost savings can be made by eliminating the income tax and payroll contribution. The 1998 study by Dr Dale Jorgenson concluded that 22% in costs could be removed from the 35 business sectors he studied for AFFT. But he has readily admitted that he assumed that employee income tax withholding and the employee share of FICA would be available to businesses to reduce costs. In other words, he assumed that your gross pay would be reduced to your current net after withholding. A large gross pay cut for most of us, whether working or retired. Most experts agree that this isn’t going to happen for fairness and contractual reasons. So, what purely business tax costs can be removed?

Using the 2007 data found in the Kotlikoff/BHI Fairtax rate study, with retail sales of $9.5 trillion, businesses paid $291 billion or 3% of sales in income taxes, $435 billion or 4.5% in FICA contributions, and $265 billion or 2.5% of sales in tax compliance costs. Add them up and businesses can reduce costs 10% on average, and after adding the 30% sales tax, prices have to rise by 17%. (1.00 x /9 x 1/30 = 1.17) Simple math. Prices are not going to remain the same. However, with take home pay increasing, and in view of the Fairtax prebate, “real” prices may be unchanged. Retirees who currently pay no income tax or payroll contributions would have only the prebate as added income, and could be adversely impacted by the Fairtax.

By the way, you also seem to believe that cost savings cascade or accumulate up through the various levels of production. Dollar savings do accumulate, but percentage cost savings do not! It doesn’t matter if there is one level of production or ten, the percentage cost savings remains the same. And that percentage is 10% on average as discussed above. Percentage cost savings do not accumulate because the cost savings apply only to the value added at a particular level of production You can’t add them up!

After reading all of the comments made it is obvious that we as Americans are mostly confused and poorly informed regarding the tax system. This is understandable since the tax code is 60,000 pages long. We also get fed misleading information about our government’s spending. This makes our ability to have intelligent informed conversations difficult. Personally, I would like to keep it simple. Fair tax offers me the opportunity to receive all of my earned income. That is a big bonus for me as I loose about 30% to the current system. The fair tax will not increase the amount paid at the register by 25-30% because the “hidden tax” will be removed. However even if I see an increase at the register, I will pay it with the satisfaction that everyone else is paying the same fair amount (those making money legally and illegally, immigrants and citizens). I am frustrated with seeing less and less of my earned income knowing that my money is being used to fund things that I do not support. Changing to the fair tax can give me another voice to the government. If I do not agree with what they are spending I can spend less thereby giving me the power to control there spending. The thought of it makes me smile.

An awful lot of good points have been made in the above comments, and I would like to make a couple more. I am retired, but I still pick up a couple of odd carpenter jobs from time to time. Even though my SS earnings and my small auxillary income does not require that I pay income tax, I still have to ante up 15.3% of what I earn as self-employment tax. Pretty steep, in my opinion, and not necessarily fair. Also, I want to remind you that the 22% figure for the imbedded tax and the 23% figure for the Fairtax amount are the product of the study by the bevy of accountants, businessmen, statiticians, and others who originally conceived the Fairtax idea in the mid 90’s. The data still looked good in 2007, but it would certainly be easy to adjust if the need were there. I would like to go back to the $100 coat we were talking about. Under Fairtax, you would still pay $100; the retailer would remit the $23, minus about 58 cents handling fee (1/4 of 1%), to the government. Remember, you have done away with the embedded costs of $22, so there is about a dollar difference to quibble about. Don’t forget - if you are rich and spend a lot, you pay more taxes; if you are poor, you don’t spend as much and you pay less taxes. To a degree, you can choose the amount of taxes you want to pay.

@It’s a tax increase for me your stupid

As far as I’m concerned, the Con’s are minute compared to the many Pro’s. First of all. If the Fair Tax gets enacted, one of the Federal Taxes that disappears will be the Corporate tax. Doing away with this tax will make setting up manufacturing industry a no brainer, even for foreign corporations. It’ll bring back American built products. More Built in America, means more American jobs.

Second. Who doesn’t want to take home almost every dime you work for, every dime of interest you earn, and every dollar of retirement saving you’ve saved up for all your life. Giving us more to spend, means more to buy, hyper-stimulating the consumer based economy.

It means even the illegals pay some taxes. They have to eat and buy cars too. Right now, they don’t pay a dime, because they all get paid under the table with cash (which most of gets sent to Mexico). Why we don’t tax the crap out of money sent out of country to Mexico, is beyond me.

The Fair Tax is a win, win for hard working Americans. As for the IRS and Tax preparers. Trust me, they’ll find new work elsewhere. Accountants will still be needed.

Bring on HR25. Let’s Git R Done!

The only way to fairly charge tax is by sales taxes. Income tax can’t do it because not everyone will work. EVERYONE spends money on food, clothing, cars, gas, etc.. This way EVERYONE pays taxes, you don’t want to pay taxes, don’t eat. But since we live in the same city, receive the same services from the gov. on road repair protection from our armies in the same manner, The price for these services should be equal. I should pay not more or no less than you who live down the street. I should not be paying 3 times more than you because my income is higher. I now have an incentative to become better at work and increase my income. The percentage of the income will not pay my government funding benefits and yours. That should be our choice, and we can choose that when we decide to purchase items that will include a higher sales tax. Sign me up, I’ll vote on it tomorrow and tell everyone I know to do so also. How do I get the word out to others to help get the fair tax passed and working?

Sighn me up now
Jimmy Head
770-715-3271
jhead@smc3.com

Tell me how I can help get this done.

The fair tax isn’t progressive enough. Investments have to be taxed some how. you can’t expect the less investment incline of us (called them simple if you want, but they deserve fair policies too) to accept that the income a CEO makes on his dividends will no longer be taxed. The prebate is a limp cold fix-it-all in the currently proposed fairtax and while I don’t support it’s elimination, I don’t find it adequate in making the proposed system fair enough.

Okay, now tell me how I don’t know the bill and haven’t read it, that’s fine. But if I’m ever going to support a national sales tax, there HAS to be 1: some sort of tax gradient (more tax as cost of purchase increases, effectively taxing those more “extravagant” consumers”) 2: taxation of capital gains and 3: taxation and tariff protecting and supporting American business and industry.

The fairtax is called “bipartisan”, but when the vast majority of it’s supporters are R’s and some blue dog dem’s, I think the bill itself can stand to be a little more bipartisan. it’s not a poison pill, but fairtax proponent’s are, IMO, secret flat tax proponents with a wise idea. But a wise idea none the less.

Taxes on the rich will never be high enough for some people. I am by no means rich, nor has a poor person ever offered me a job. As far as an old person being against the FairTax I see two things. One like many others, he has not actually read up on the FairTax, and two he has no children or grand children or he just dosen’t give a damn about them or were this country is headed.

@Bob
his stupid? compelling argument!

Look! It all comes down to this simple fact. Is it really fair to tax what you work so hard for to bring home every two weeks. That’s how simple this is. The income/payroll tax will only get larger and larger as costs of running a government keep going up. Until they’re taking more than 50% of “your” hard earned money. No one is saying that the FairTax is the final solution. It’s not. But it’s better than taxing income. Even at it’s inception, the tax rate of 24% is lower than the 28% you pay now through payroll deductions. There is no guarantee, of coarse, that millions of Americans will take their extra income and spend it, but I could certainly see it happening more with the FairTax, than when the Payroll tax goes up again.

We are NEVER going to be free of higher taxes until hard working Americans tell their Congressmen/Senators to stop wasting our money on earmarks, pet projects and Pork. While we’re at it let’s outlaw lobbyists and political PAC’s. How about letting us, the tax payer, vote on Federal spending legislation. In this age of computerization, why do we even need a representative government anymore.

@ZIEMBA
I agree with you. Terrible idea! Would kill retail? Retail would take the
brunt and then give a no sales tax discount - but increase their prices
to cover. A real free ride for Welfare! Drug dealers and fraudsters would just find some other way to launder money.
Illegal immigrants would not be subject to taxes as they would only buy
food or none taxable items - they could get their other necessary consumer goods from their respective countries with no sales tax.
The tax system is cumbersome and much to difficult but as I see it -
Bush admin never went after the lawbreakers - Obama admin has actively
pursued the fraudsters and brought back a healthy sum of money.
opens the door to a supreme kleptocracy!
sales tax

I like the fair tax for one major reason, it is tough to get earnings of all US and illegals taxed. However, all of these people must eat/buy goods to live in the USA. At least they would be included by fair tax. I am all for the concept of keep it simple with a straight tax method. All the reasons were discussed in the articles. The real question is can taxes be spent for the reasons collected and eliminate deficit spending. Everything from collecting wheel tax for roads but spending elsewhere to not having a funded budjet goal.

Yes, taxes can be spent with collected reasons, “if” we citizens of the capitalistic utopia, demand congress change our constitution to include a balanced budget amendment, and a Presidential line item veto. Until we, as the ultimate society of free people, demand our elected officials listen to us and not the lobby contingent, there will always be ways of screw this opportunity up.

I say, let’s make April 15th just another spring day. Close down the IRS forever. Make lots of noise! I constantly write my political hacks to demand a fair vote on the FairTax.

I’m reading Fair Tax right now, so am very interested in this topic - what to do to fix our broken system and save our country from being foreclosed by foreign governments. I’m still working through the debate of whether to support this specific movement or not, but know something does have to change. As a 30something, I see our future retirement plans being delayed inevitably (if at all possible) because of the number of retirees we’ll each have to support with all the Baby Boomers reaching that age soon.

The way I see it now, with my limited economic education, is we can either reduce government costs or have the govt make more money. Making more money would either be done by taxing everyone more or by getting new streams of income. For example, if drugs or prostitution were legalized federally, taxes could be collected and the problem could be fixed for now. To save money, the govt can either limit spending on programs (like not paying for any social security but still taxing people for it) or revamp a broken system thats in place now. Which route would be easier, more balanced, and provide faster results?

We can’t keep the status quo in place. To keep doing the same thing and expect different results, as they say, is madness.

A fair tax is simple and fair. A sales tax will decrease spending for the poor and middle classes and once again allow the Federal Government to meddle in our finances and our way of living. I thought this approach was exactly what conservatives didn’t want.

correction: A FLAT TAX is simple and fair…not a Fair Tax.

It sounds like a great idea and I have heard arguments that it can generate upwards of fifteen trillion dollars annually at twenty three percent. One thing to consider is the service industry which generates billions of dollars in unclaimed cash tips. I think there would be a major economic adjustment that would be considered by many to be negative but I think the long term benefits in the abolition of corruption and the taxing of under-the-table and black market dollars far outweighs any negative aspects of this concept. I think its the way to go. I just worry about the government figuring ways to abuse this system too. In addition, I think this kind of revenue could be a means to a great compromise between fair taxation and also a healthy social healthcare plan that eliminates abuses in the health care and insurance industries. I like it.

It sounds like a great idea and I have heard arguments that it can generate upwards of fifteen trillion dollars annually at twenty three percent. One thing to consider is the service industry which generates billions of dollars in unclaimed cash tips. I think there would be a major economic adjustment that would be considered by many to be negative but I think the long term benefits in the abolition of corruption and the taxing of under-the-table and black market dollars far outweighs any negative aspects of this concept. I think its the way to go. I just worry about the government figuring ways to abuse this system too. In addition, I think this kind of revenue could be a means to a great compromise between fair taxation and also a healthy social healthcare plan that eliminates abuses in the health care and insurance industries. I like it. Also, one thing our people who think this would kill retail seem to forget is that everyone would be keeping their entire paycheck. A $1200 paycheck would suddenly become $1800 bucks. You don’t have to buy anything! You can pay bills. Save it! Whatever! I think this is a great thing.

Very insightful, and informative. I don’t usually make comments, as I’m kind of a blog lurker, but I thought it deserved a word or two. Thanks for sharing.

Tre
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