friday
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2007
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- Location
- Florida
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Very Conservative
I have been reading the Fair Tax Book by Neil Boortz. Mr. Boortz, through wit and research, attempts to make an argument for an alternative to our current tax system. Any argument started with "our current tax system is not good" will win every time. But is the Fair Tax a "good" alternative? As a rarity among conservative Republicans, I would say no.
As a matter of fact, any system where you are forced to spend money on items that do not affect your own self-interest is hard to label "good". For example, if you are forced every morning to fill up your neighbor's SUV with your own gas money, you would hardly call that good. In the same way, when our tax system takes 35% of one person's income to pay for the healthcare of an illegal immigrant, it is hard to call that system "good".
In addition, a system where you have to pay hundreds of dollars to file a tax return, so that a large percentage of your tax money can be eaten up in government bureaucracy is not "good". So it is easy to say that our current tax system is not "good". But is the Fair Tax any better? For those of you who don't know what the Fair Tax is, I would recommend Mr. Boortz' book. Unfortunately I don't have the space here to familiarize you with it.
So why would I, a Conservative Republican, not think the Fair Tax is any better than our current system? There are four reasons. First, it will not be any easier to comply with. Second, it will not make our system any fairer or reduce the abuses it is subject to. Third, it will encourage government control in our lives. And fourth, it will not solve the real problem. Let me take these points somewhat one by one, although you will see they bleed into each other:
Right now for all tax purposes, we file a variety of tax returns throughout the year, but for federal purposes we file quarterly payroll returns, an annual Unemployment return, a corporate/partnership return and a personal income tax return. These returns range from two to many pages long depending on the schedules, credits, and so on that we use. They are complex and many times have rules written by politicians in attempts to win political votes. Will the Fair Tax be easier? I have a slight knowledge advantage over Mr. Boortz in this area simply because I have probably filed about 300 more sales tax returns than he has. I am a tax professional in Florida. We have a sales tax in Florida and every month, every retail business and rental business is required to file a sales tax return. They are only one page long. Why do I file them? because we have local rates as well as state rates and I have seen several clients attempt to file these returns on their own and completely botch them. This is just on a one page return. A national sales tax return would probably have one page just to list the necessities that are exempt. Where would they come from? See points two and three.
So now we have gone from an annual income tax return and quarterly payroll tax returns to monthly consumption tax returns. Here is also where the first and second point blur together. In a perfect world, with true conservative Republicans in charge, and money being spent for constitutional purposes, a Fair Tax might look in 5 years what it was originally designed to look like. We do not live in a perfect world.
For example: how long would a democrat majority allow every American, including Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, and John Kerry to get a monthly check from the government for basic living expenses as Mr. Boortz suggests?
How long would our elected officials stay in office if they made people making $10,000 a year pay the same 23% consumption tax as people making 10 million a year?
I would give the Fair Tax 3 years with a Republican government, 3 months with a Liberal one, before we have bracketed sales tax rates, an IRS to figure out your income and net worth, and credits depending on income levels. In case you haven't figured it out, that puts us back at square one.
Same point, different angle: How long will the consumption tax on Toyotas and fords be the same if we have a speaker of the house from Detroit? how long will the consumption tax on ethanol and gasoline stay the same? How about priuses and SUVs? We can see where this is going....straight into the third point.
Right now the government has certain controls over our lives. Tax policy governs how much money we make, and they take a percentage if we make too much. Tax policy also encourages such things as IRAs, Mortgages over renting, HSAs, etc. The government has put itself in a position where it can have some influence on our lives by taxing what we earn. Look at investments after Bush lowered the tax on dividends and capital gains. Now the Dow is over 13,000.
The only way the government could have more fiscal control, short of socialism, is by taxing how we spend our money instead of how we make it. If the consumption tax on fluorescent light bulbs is 10% and 50% on old fashioned light bulbs, which will you buy? If the senator from Idaho sees a shortage in potato crops, and the senator from New York needs the senator from Idaho to vote on say a troop withdrawal time line, how long will the consumption tax on potatoes remain at 23%?
And finally, the Fair Tax does not solve the real problem. It is revenue neutral. It is like replacing a Sponge-bob band aid with a Spiderman band aid and saying "there, all better". The real problem is that the government is spending so much money that we would even need to take 23% of your expenditures in taxes. Constitutionally, the US government should be spending on protecting the US, standardizing weights and measures among states, and promoting the general welfare (not the welfare state). If the government could stay within those boundaries, we could go back to a 5% flat tax on the middle class and higher and be all set. I wish I could go into all of these points more, but I doubt half who started reading this are still with me, so I will stop here.
Sincerely,
Friday
As a matter of fact, any system where you are forced to spend money on items that do not affect your own self-interest is hard to label "good". For example, if you are forced every morning to fill up your neighbor's SUV with your own gas money, you would hardly call that good. In the same way, when our tax system takes 35% of one person's income to pay for the healthcare of an illegal immigrant, it is hard to call that system "good".
In addition, a system where you have to pay hundreds of dollars to file a tax return, so that a large percentage of your tax money can be eaten up in government bureaucracy is not "good". So it is easy to say that our current tax system is not "good". But is the Fair Tax any better? For those of you who don't know what the Fair Tax is, I would recommend Mr. Boortz' book. Unfortunately I don't have the space here to familiarize you with it.
So why would I, a Conservative Republican, not think the Fair Tax is any better than our current system? There are four reasons. First, it will not be any easier to comply with. Second, it will not make our system any fairer or reduce the abuses it is subject to. Third, it will encourage government control in our lives. And fourth, it will not solve the real problem. Let me take these points somewhat one by one, although you will see they bleed into each other:
Right now for all tax purposes, we file a variety of tax returns throughout the year, but for federal purposes we file quarterly payroll returns, an annual Unemployment return, a corporate/partnership return and a personal income tax return. These returns range from two to many pages long depending on the schedules, credits, and so on that we use. They are complex and many times have rules written by politicians in attempts to win political votes. Will the Fair Tax be easier? I have a slight knowledge advantage over Mr. Boortz in this area simply because I have probably filed about 300 more sales tax returns than he has. I am a tax professional in Florida. We have a sales tax in Florida and every month, every retail business and rental business is required to file a sales tax return. They are only one page long. Why do I file them? because we have local rates as well as state rates and I have seen several clients attempt to file these returns on their own and completely botch them. This is just on a one page return. A national sales tax return would probably have one page just to list the necessities that are exempt. Where would they come from? See points two and three.
So now we have gone from an annual income tax return and quarterly payroll tax returns to monthly consumption tax returns. Here is also where the first and second point blur together. In a perfect world, with true conservative Republicans in charge, and money being spent for constitutional purposes, a Fair Tax might look in 5 years what it was originally designed to look like. We do not live in a perfect world.
For example: how long would a democrat majority allow every American, including Bill Gates, Brad Pitt, and John Kerry to get a monthly check from the government for basic living expenses as Mr. Boortz suggests?
How long would our elected officials stay in office if they made people making $10,000 a year pay the same 23% consumption tax as people making 10 million a year?
I would give the Fair Tax 3 years with a Republican government, 3 months with a Liberal one, before we have bracketed sales tax rates, an IRS to figure out your income and net worth, and credits depending on income levels. In case you haven't figured it out, that puts us back at square one.
Same point, different angle: How long will the consumption tax on Toyotas and fords be the same if we have a speaker of the house from Detroit? how long will the consumption tax on ethanol and gasoline stay the same? How about priuses and SUVs? We can see where this is going....straight into the third point.
Right now the government has certain controls over our lives. Tax policy governs how much money we make, and they take a percentage if we make too much. Tax policy also encourages such things as IRAs, Mortgages over renting, HSAs, etc. The government has put itself in a position where it can have some influence on our lives by taxing what we earn. Look at investments after Bush lowered the tax on dividends and capital gains. Now the Dow is over 13,000.
The only way the government could have more fiscal control, short of socialism, is by taxing how we spend our money instead of how we make it. If the consumption tax on fluorescent light bulbs is 10% and 50% on old fashioned light bulbs, which will you buy? If the senator from Idaho sees a shortage in potato crops, and the senator from New York needs the senator from Idaho to vote on say a troop withdrawal time line, how long will the consumption tax on potatoes remain at 23%?
And finally, the Fair Tax does not solve the real problem. It is revenue neutral. It is like replacing a Sponge-bob band aid with a Spiderman band aid and saying "there, all better". The real problem is that the government is spending so much money that we would even need to take 23% of your expenditures in taxes. Constitutionally, the US government should be spending on protecting the US, standardizing weights and measures among states, and promoting the general welfare (not the welfare state). If the government could stay within those boundaries, we could go back to a 5% flat tax on the middle class and higher and be all set. I wish I could go into all of these points more, but I doubt half who started reading this are still with me, so I will stop here.
Sincerely,
Friday