Anything would be better than our current system. I wonder how it would work if you buy something big, like a house? Would landlords have to collect rent tax?

Yes, real estate would be taxed like any other retail sale.

Rental property, rental cars, etc... all such things are considered a "service", and would be taxed as such.

Read the book, guys! It will answer any possible question you could have about the FairTax plan. There's also a very extensive "Frequently Asked Questions" page on the www.fairtax.org site.

Mike

Is the 23% FairTax higher or lower when compared to the income taxes people pay today?

Most people are paying that much or more today – much of it is just hidden from view.

There we have a problem. You see, what you are suggesting is going to create problems. Now Joe Politician will have to be honest and say 23% isn't enough. We need 24% to get more money and people will know enough to howl and scream. In our current system, you are taxed but you don't know it. So, they can shuffle and twist money around. Don't give you any new taxes but increase the old ones and you probably can't keep track of it.

I like it a lot. But it looks like a partisan fight ahead because I only see republicans as co-sponsors. There are two minor glitches. Dependant working teens will have to pay the tax but won't get a rebate, and seniors will have to pay the tax with funds withdrawn from their tax-free retirement accounts. I also don't quite understand how SSI would work, since your benefit is currently based on how much you pay in. But the good far outweighs the bad. I think it will improve this country's pathetic savings rate, and give people real control over their finances. I emailed my congressman asking him to support the FairTax Act.

And yes it will make any tax increases glaringly obvious, much to the dismay of some politicians.

Much as I'd like to see SSI die a quick death, the sales tax thingy would work just fine for that. Instead of the artificial distinction we have now between general revenues and social security and medicare, that could no longer be hidden, either. Instead, everything would go to the gov and have to be divided afterward. I rather like that, too.

Also, I see no problem with taxing seniors or teens. They benefit from society, they should pay. By one and only loophole (make that two) would be for food and meds. I'd make them tax-free so that po' folks wouldn't have to choose between meds and food.

It would also make the Food Stamp thing obsolete.

B

One thing I have noticed about how most of these discussions get started is that someone usually brings up welfare. That’s find and dandy because it does need an overhaul. The thing that gets me is no one ever seems to mention the other parts of the government that waste untold billions. For starters, lets try the military. Geez, talk about a sacred cow. Do we honestly believe that if we told the military and the contractors that we will no longer foot the bill for crap that does not work (B1, Sgt. York AAA …etc) and we will not pay for you to design a better toilet seat or hammer that the (put your country of choice here) will come strolling across our borders and set up shop? When Boeing designed the 707, they did it on their own dime and came out with a product that worked that that the air lines needed.

And how about government it’s self. Here is my scripted phone call to the senator.


Me :Hello? Mrs. Senator Screw the people and line my own pockets. Yes, I would like to know what the process would be to get a bill on the house / senate floor for consideration.

Mrs. Senator Screw the people and line my own pockets: Sure, I’d be happy to help you. What is the content of your proposed bill?

Me: I want the house / senate to vote me a raise like you do for your selves.

Me: Hello? ….. Hello? …. ****, must be a bad connection. I’ll call back.

*****the names have been changed to protect the guilty******


Do we really need that many Mike Browns and Chetokofs (sp?). You want to see congress fix SS, Welfare, healthcare .. etc. How about we just have them use the same crap we use instead of their own retirement plan, health care etc.

I have to wonder which wastes more money. Welfare or the military and the government it’s self.

There's a provision in the FairTax plan for that too, B. See the following:

http://www.fairtaxvolunteer.org/smart/faq-main.html#3

I'm tellin' you guys.... when it comes to tax collection systems, the FairTax plan is as perfect as it will ever get.

Read the book!......... :D

Mike

Hey Mike, level with us now. Is there a book somewhere that explains this?

Bot

PS That website makes an awful lot of sense. Thanks.

Entitlement programs, government waste, and military inefficiencies are entirely separate issues, and although they obviously should be dealt with, that is not the primary purpose of the FairTax plan.

The FairTax seeks to provide the same revenue that the government currently receives, while doing so in a manner that is fair to the individual taxpayer, saves the average taxpayer money, encourages domestic growth and productivity in the business sector, encourages foreign investment in the US, all while involving far less paperwork, virtually eliminating tax evasion, and with FAR less money and time being spent on compliance.

The bloated size and wasteful nature of our government absolutely should be dealt with. Implementing the FairTax plan would put us in an INFINITELY better position to start doing so.

Mike

Yes, I know I'm beating everyone over the head with the "read the book" thing..... ;)

But after doing so, I cannot even find the words to express to you how indisputably superior the FairTax plan is, and how obsolete, unfair, wasteful, and convoluted our current IRS-based system is. I have suspected as much for years, but the FairTax book provides irrefutable evidence of how deep the bull$h!t really is, and how badly we are getting screwed, in ways that most people haven't even thought of.

If you truly want to fully understand the depth of the problem, and how very broken the current system really is, and the near-perfection of the obvious solution (the FairTax), you simply MUST read this book.

Mike



Mike

I think everyone here should at least look over the www.fairtax.org website, and if it makes sense, let your senators and congressman know. I did.

Quote from Alexander Hamilton:
It is a single advantage of taxes on articles of consumption, that they contain in their own nature a security against excess.

Good advice. :)

Mike

hmmm, methinks there's something afoot...
 

"In order to advance the FairTax message, we encourage you to join one of these online chat/message board Internet sites for lively FairTax discussion and debate."

Yes, a lively discussion and debate, indeed.

Your point is?...............

Mike

You're part of the Vast Libertarian Conspiracy (hereafter referred to as VLC). It is a little-known fact that the VLC is trying to undermine centralization of executive authority through legal means.

Beware.

B