I haven't piped in on this in a while, but I've run the numbers and a "fair tax" will cost me ~5% more in taxes annually than I pay now. I'm just not interested in giving the government more of my money. I own a home and have three kids, so I take all kinds of deductions (wait they're not deductions, they are noble attempts by the government to modify my behavior...)
Seems like the ones that are screaming for the flat tax the most are those that are most affected by it (small business owners with no or grown children that rent instead of owning a home) and or DINKS. A flat tax, as it's currently proposed, does me no good. -- Jeff -----Original Message----- From: Cameron Childress [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 5:52 PM To: CF-Community Subject: Re: The Fairtax Book So then I am back to the fact that I think that type of problem (sending out checks) is so mundane and easy to solve that I don't care if it's been considered. As for the question about it being fair - is it fair that we give the government less money? Fairtax is designed to reduce the total amount of taxes that citizens of the USA pay into the system. This means that the total tax burden goes down. It goes down for a few reasons... 1) Less money is required to run the government because you have eliminated a certain portion of it (the IRS). Is this fair? Hell yes. 2) Less money is required from US residents because visitors from overseas are also "paying taxes" when they buy things in the US and are paying some of the burden. Is this fair? I think so. It's fair that our taxes go down as a whole. It's also good for the country and the economy as a whole, improving many more incomes simply as a side effect of improved economy. But I don't think you are focused on the reduction, only the potential increase for certain individuals. So yes, some individuals will see their taxes go up as a result. The most severe increases will be seen in industries where income currently isn't reported. These are folks such as criminals, drug dealers, illegal aliens. Now, I'm not saying that the tax system is passing judgement on them. On the contrary, it doesn't even attempt to identify them - they simply get taxed at the same rate as the rest of us when they buy the same things as the rest of us. Many of these folks will not get their prebates either, because they are not here legally or don't want to be identified, which I guess makes it even worse for those folks. Maybe you think that's not fair, but I think it's fair. So that really leaves one other biggish group - who get alot of tax exemptions, tax rules created for certain special interests. These are mostly tax credits introduced as a tool to influence behavior and encourage people to do certain things. Buy a house? Get a credit. Go to school? Get a credit. Have a kid? Get a credit. I don't really have any objections to the motivations behind these exceptions. They are a noble attempt to control people and make them do things that are good for them. However, this is also one of the biggest problems with the current tax code. There are so many exemptions and special interests involved that it's really become a huge mess. Those things need to go. You may enjoy getting these exceptions, but they are wrecking the system and making it more and more complex every year. These are a problem? Yes these are a HUGE part of the problem. Is it fair that they are tossed? Yes it is. It is fair that some people get a tax credit because they did something the government wants to reward a specific group for? No, not fair. -Cameron Dana wrote: > My objection isn't the effort -- it's more that this sort of detail > seems not to have been considered. So will it really be fair? The main > support I see for this model is from people who like the tax cut they > will get. Works great for you and I. But the tax cuts will be financed > by poor people paying more, and the US has seen enough regressive > taxes lately imho. > > On Feb 4, 2008 4:36 PM, Cameron Childress <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> No, I think fairtax is actually a solution for 1 and a partial >> solution to 2. Eliminating the IRS is a GREAT step forward in >> eliminating bureaucracy. Are you saying you think fairtax will have >> more bureaucracy than the current system? >> >> If your biggest objections are now that is takes alot of effort to >> send everyone checks, then the argument's really over because I will >> agree that it will take some amount of effort to track that, but >> nothing that even approaches the expense of running the IRS. >> >> -Cameron >> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253219 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
