FairTax of 23% or FlatTax of 10%?

[brandonbull]

Pass. Only the rich and mathematically inadequate support anything like that.

How is that possible?

 

[khon]

There's no tax taken at the register, it's all factored into the price of the item posted on the shelf. That way, WYSIWYG.

Yeah I know, but its still disingenuous.

If you say 23% it sounds like a $100 item would end up costing $123, but it won't, it'll cost $130.

Of course advocated of the fairtax know this, they just like to use the smaller number to mislead people.

 

[khon]

Btw something Faritax advocates usually omit is that there would be monthly rebate checks for everyone. And that includes those with no income.

So in addition to being a method of taxation, it would also be a welfare program.

 

[Anarchist420]

The FairTax isn't perfect, the payroll tax generates $900B. If the government went with a semi-flat tax in the form of a payroll tax collected by Congress and applied the 7.65% non-self-employed rate and 15.3% self-employed rate (both) to all income (instead of only to the first $~108k), the government would probably receive at least 40% more which would be $1.26T, still not close to the 2.3T the government already gets.

I think a semi-realistic goal for the government should be trying to get the budget down to $1.7-1.8T which is about 1/2 of FY2010.

 

[NesuD]

Changing the way we are taxed will make no difference whatsoever. The wealthiest 10 percent of tax payers already carry something like 68 percent of the federal income tax burden in this country. The problem isn't a lack of tax revenues it is a lack of fiscal responsibility. The idiots we elected to be the caretakers of that money just spend like drunken sailors. We elected them to serve our interests but the vast majority of them serve no interests other than their own. Their motivation isn't whats best for the country. Their motivation is to get reelected first and formost. Only way it will ever be fixed is to completely disregard parties and vote against every incumbent running for reelection. They will never get the message until we fire every last one of them.

 

[child of wonder]

I love the idea of the Fairtax. No more loopholes, dramatic reduction in size of the IRS, taxes become much simpler, etc.

However, as others have pointed out, simple math will show that the tax burden shifts towards the middle class in this scenario.

 

[TheAdvocate]

The only person in this thread who has any idea what they are talking about is khon. The rest of you are just repeating talking points from your ideological heroes.

 

[LunarRay]

The vast majority of workers are already plagued with a flat tax of 7.65 percent or 15.3 percent if self employed... Whist the folks earning over what ever the threshold is now for the two elements that make up SSI/Med experience a diminished rate as they earn over it.

I favor a VAT much like in Ireland, England and etc.. Unlike there, however, I'd eliminate all taxation to the person and install a VAT with certain items exempt. Vary the rate based on some logic including targeted sector growth. Exported goods would have a 'claw back' provision to better enable that aspect.

 

[Genx87]

Btw something Faritax advocates usually omit is that there would be monthly rebate checks for everyone. And that includes those with no income.

So in addition to being a method of taxation, it would also be a welfare program.

Do people with no income stop consuming products and services?

 

[soccerballtux]

Yeah I know, but its still disingenuous.

If you say 23% it sounds like a $100 item would end up costing $123, but it won't, it'll cost $130.

Of course advocated of the fairtax know this, they just like to use the smaller number to mislead people.

yeah I agree.