Dutchman3 - GeorgiaTex
Dutchman3 and GeorgiaTex - welcome to the Northeast Georgia Blog. You guys both made excellent posts concerning the Fair Tax - causing me to do some much needed homework - afterall, GeorgiaTex has debated Neal Boortz and John Linder on this topic; It’s possible those two know a little more about the FairTax than I do. Let me attempt to do a little rebuttal on GT’s post real quick:
1 - “the numbers don’t add up” - Well - that depends on who is adding up the numbers. This argument can be spun so fast either way that you might pass out before it stops spinning. There are certainly economists who have concluded that the FairTax does indeed use accurate numbers and that those folks against the bill are grabbing numbers out of thin air.
2 - “The FairTax will be impossible to enforce because the government cannot force people to buy what would be taxable goods and services” - Surely you don’t want to compare HR25 with our current tax code? I would argue that under our current tax code there isn’t a person living in the United States who is in 100% compliance with the law. Not one person. Not one company. Not one organization.
3 - “Even if you could fix the rate and eliminate tax avoidance, the way the FairTax is designed it would shift the tax burden onto the back of the middle class and retirees” - Are you saying that people with little or no income purchase more items than wealthy people? Are you saying that the guy making $25000 a year is going to pay less in taxes under HR25 than the guy making 250000 a year? I didn’t think so.
Now it’s obvious why I’m not an attorney or talking head pundit on the cable news channels…
Filed under: Current Events, Politics
Dennis,
Keep doing your homework. I don’t think you are quite up to speed yet?
In response to your three comments:
(1) There isn’t one economist that is on record as thinking that the Fairtax 23% rate works. Even the group paid by AFFT to do a base/rate study concluded that 23% wouldn’t work unless federal discretionary spending was reduced. And the latest study from the Baker Institute shows that the rate would have to be more like 28% (39% exclusive) to be revenue neutral.
(2) GeorgiaTex can speak for himself, but his point #2 has nothing to do with compliance. I certainly agree with you that the current tax code is cumbersome at best, but his point was that people will avoid paying taxes by buying used, and there is nothing the government can do about that. _Perfectly legal, and could drastically reduce federal revenue. My personal example is that rather than buy a new car every two years, I would very likely purchase an extended warranty and drive the car for ten years. What would that do to tax revenue if many people did the same thing? Frankly, I believe that legal tax avoidance may be a larger issue than illegal tax evasion.
(3) What I believe he is saying is that as a percent of income, the wealthy will pay less federal sales taxes than the middle class. Studies seem to show that the rich will fare far better under the Fairtax than under current law.
Good luck in your quest for information. At least you aren’t simply reading back the marketing junk in the error filled two Fairtax books.