The Fair Tax

[Rich Stern]

Neal Boortz, Sean Hannity, and Congressman John Linder were hosting a rally for the Fair Tax last night in our county. Boortz had previously expressed concern about doing this because he wasn't sure how well it would be attended.



Five minutes after they opened the doors to the Gwinnett County Civic Center, it was at capacity (4500). They turned thousands of people away. I was headed over there when it came on the radio; they couldn't handle any more people. Went home and listened to most of it on the local news radio station. Awesome rally.



Folks, this is the single best chance to transfer power from the federal government back to the people, since income tax became a reality in this country.



I urge you to learn about this topic.



You can read about it here:



<a href=http://www.fairtax.org target=new>fairtax.org</a>



You can also read Neal Boortz's book, which is excellent (I got it at the local library):



<a href=http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060875496 target=new>The Fair Tax Book</a>



I'm going to be annoying you with reminders of this over the coming months. This is the best chance for profound political change in this country in our lifetime. If passed, it will add a great deal of transparency to the political process, making it difficult for politicians to hide behind tax class warfare rhetoric and complex tax code, instead of telling the truth.



I will be happy to answer questions or concerns about the Fair Tax, to the extent I can.



Please help by educating yourself on this and pressuring your federal political representatives to get on board. This stuff scares them blind because it removes power from their hands. The only thing that scares them more is being voted out of office.

 

[JohnnyB]

I have been keeping an eye on this for a while. Looks promising, but I'm sure they polititions will do everything to keep if from becoming reality.

 

[walter clark]

It dosent give any approximation of what this tax might be , 5% or 20%. on purchases and will it be based on what the gov spends or will they just continue to sprial the debt through the celing. Will outgoing goods to other contries purchased be taxed as well as incoming (like mail order) be taxed. I think everyone feels that at in concept this souds like a fair idea but like they say "the devil is in the details and fine print". Also states will need to be held to the same standard or fed will drop further funding to the states. This will inturn cause the state revenew departments to become much like mini irs's. I would like to learn more before buying into it 100%.

 

[TrainTrac]

Walter,



Read the book titled The Fair Tax Book by Congressman John Linder and Neal Boortz, or go to the Fair Tax web site. Both will answer all of your questions in easily understood terms. Rich has linked both above.



He's right, this is a concept whose time has come. Tell your Congressman to become a sponsor of bill number HR25, and your Senators to become a sponsor of bill number S25. Remind them that they work for you. If enough of the American people remember this and convey this to Congress, they will really do what the American people want, or find themselves out of a job come election day.

 

[Thomas Rogers]

I too am a huge fan of the "Fair Tax", but I fear it can't be adopted as it displaces too many workers (IRS workers, tax accountants, etc.). For that reason, some bastardized version at best will be adopted and it won't help but instead only confuse.



Sorry, I have lost faith in our govt in this area.



But, I will remind my elected officials, the scumbums!



TJR

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

I have been an advocate of either a Flat Tax or National Sales Tax since high school. The concept of either one is very simple:



Everyone pays the same percentage.



Let's Say at 10%:

If you make $100, you pay $10



If you make $100,000 you pay $10,000



Currently, if you make $100, you get $3,000 back on your taxes (I'm not exagerating by much).



If you make $100,000, you pay $3,000 in taxes



If you make $45,000, you pay $6,000 in taxes



A national sales tax is also an intreguing concept. You pay a tax on everything you consume. You by a loaf of bread for $1.00, taxes are $.10. You by an '07 ST at $30,000, taxes are $3,000. Sounds like a lot, until you consider that if your salary is $45,000, you get to keep all $45,000, not the $38,000 that you get now.



It's really a simple concept and easy to do. But our politicians (who are supposed to work for us.... right) will find a way to foul it up. The Dem's will claim that it hurts the poor and benefits the rich. The Rep's will make some claim that it will save the govn't millions by abolishing the IRS, then turn around and spend billions on something else. Oh well.

 

[Brian Hill 2]

I agree R Shek.

I hate to pay for someone to do my taxes its BS. Its like I need to go to tax class just to fill out my forms. Its seems like alot of people cheat on their taxes too.

 

[TrainTrac]

R Shek,



A flat tax has already been tried. First when the income tax was enacted in 1913, and again with the tax reform legislation passed in the 1980's. The tax laws have been amended thousands of times since then. It's easy for Congress to change the tax laws, because the taxpayers are less likely to notice due to the fact that we don't actually stroke a check every April, it's just deducted automatically from our paychecks.



With the Fair Tax, it would be much more difficult to change the tax rate, because it would be noticed immediately in the purchase price of new retail items.



More info on flat tax vs. Fair Tax:

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

TT-



I whole heartily agree. The payroll deduction was one of the greatest boondoogles for politicans. If it were to be a constiutional amendment that the tax rate was set at say 15% (for either tax), it would be virtually impossilbe to change that rate.



I agree a Fair Tax is better than a flat. However, even a flat tax is better than what we currently have.



One of my ideas for a consumption tax is:



-All items that currently qualify for WIC would be tax exempt

-All Food items would be taxed at 15%

-All non-food items under $1,000 cash retail value would be taxed at 25%

-All non-food itmes between $1,000 and $5,000 cash retail value would be taxed at 22%

-All non-food items over $5,000 would be taxed at 20%

-All PRIMARY residence purchases would be taxed at 18%, non-primary would fall into the above category



No rebates, no tax shelters, no exemptions (other than those noted), no credits for home mortgage, etc.





That's a bit more complicated, but may have less objections from liberals than a stright across 23% which would be acceptible to me.

 

[TomT]

ANYTHING is better then what we have now.

 

[Paul Maurer 2]

I am all for it- I am in the highest tax bracket but am not a big spender on anything other than real estate. I have my accountant on an $800 monthly retainer just to keep me in line and find ways to run more expenses through my business. I am ashamed at the deficit our leaders have run up and if we don't try something different my kids will not do as well financially as I have because of the national debt.:unsure::angry:

 

[Tom Schindler]

I read the book today at work.



Just before anyone jumps in and says I wasn't working, I was doing radiography with 2 IR-192 Isotopes and the exposures were 63 minutes long and per Federal Regulations, I must be at the entrance to prevent any unauthorized entrance into a radiation area.



It was a good book and brought out some of the advantages the import car makers have building carss in the USA and not importing them here. (It is a financial move that Toyota, Honda, Nissan and others are not doing it out of the kindness of thier hearts) It also gave a good reason why Diamler-Chrysler decided to base thier headquarters in Germany and not the USA. Again, another tax advantage.



A fair tax is really the only way the USA can truly compete in a "global market".



Like Rich, and others have said, you really need to read the book. It is only like 180 pages long and the type is big so there really isn't that much to read and it is simple to understand.





Tom

 

[Johnny O]

Since I'm self-employed, the Fair Tax would make my life much simpler. That said, I think most of the auditors and others at the IRS would just be shifted into auditing businesses to make sure they (me) were collecting and submitting the taxes. I would not have to withold and pay Federal tax and FICA on my employees' wages but I'd have to collect, file, and pay a Federal sales tax like I do the state sales tax. And someone has to look out for that and make sure it's enforced.

In my line of work, most of my competition works under-the-table for less money. My only question is would the Fair Tax make me less competitive since I'd have to charge it and my competition wouldn't? Or would it be a wash, since they're not paying income tax now anyway?

Imagine how much better businesses could be run if we put all the CPA's to work making businesses profitable instead of running them in a manner to minimize our tax bill, which I often do.

All money has to come from someplace. Follow the money.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Read the book.

My only question is would the Fair Tax make me less competitive since I'd have to charge it and my competition wouldn't? Or would it be a wash, since they're not paying income tax now anyway?

If your competition is a business, they must charge it and pay it. You can not compete with the guy that does everything under the table and does not represent himself as a business.



No need to worry about paying labor under the table. You pay your tax's when you spend that money to buy food, clothing, services, etc. The advantage of being a legal person in society in the USA is you also would get a prebate check once a month. You are here illegally, you don't get one so not only do you get paid less then minimum wage, you also spend more to survive.



I urge you to read the book. You can get it at the library for free. You can read it cover to cover in about 2 hours. It is only 180 pages, or so, long.





Tom

 

[Gavin Allan]

It will never pass. All the CPAs and lawyers in office wouldn't allow it. The Fair Tax would put millions of them out of work.

 

[Tom Schindler]

Gavin,



Isn't it great to have a government that is "By the people, for the people" making laws we have to live with.



Last time I checked, this is our government. As Hank Jr. sang in the song "USA Today".



"We got the right to vote our leaders in,

We got the right to vote them out again."



Lets never forget that and make sure they don't forget that either. They work for us.





Tom

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Man, if I could read a book at work, I'd have it made. I think the military needs a union. Maybe we could get the government to do something about the hazardous working conditions too. :lol:

 

[Tom Schindler]

Nelson,



How did I know you would be the one to make a comment without reading my whole post? Some people a too predictable.



Blame the NRC and the ODH for me being able to read a book at work. Call them up and tell them that a radiation area isn't dangerous and to make employees doing radiography leave the area open so other people can see what is going on.





Tom

 

[Rich Stern]

Caymen, I don't care where you read the book. Thank you for taking the time to educate yourself on this topic.



If more people read that book, we'd be that much further along toward abolishing the IRS.

 

[Tom Schindler]

I plan on readling it a few more times before I return it. Many time I am able to absorb more information the second and third time around. I read very fast, so many times I read the words faster then I can process that information.



What I really liked is it wen't into light detail how and why DCX's headquarters are in Germany and not in the US and why the Jpanese have an unfair advantage when it comes against domestic automakers. It also gives us an understanding why the USA has trouble competing on a world markey and how a fair tax can level the playing field while all of us pay our fair share to the government.



It is sad to think so many people won't even bother to pick the book up to read.





Tom