Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I think it is impossible to discuss the Fair Tax as a comparison of a flat tax. Yes, the Fair Tax is a flat tax but it would work so much better than just putting in a flat tax for everybody with all the other federal taxes still in place.
You know you guys keep talking about this fair tax and they might just go with it, ON TOP OF THE INCOME TAX. Careful what you're asking for, someone will suggest we try it and transition to it from the income tax. As soon as the federal government gets a taste of a national sales tax they may decide to keep both.
Could be that its just late on a Friday and I'm ready to check out but I'm not following?
I was just talking about a 15% income tax.
Income tax suck rocks in every which way.
You don't need or want taxes on labor or capital. When ever labor or capital exists, value is poured into surrounding assets. You can even self fund projects. Building a rail line will have an effect on property values. That can be either given away or collected to pay for the project. In one case the state goes bankrupt while other people quite their jobs from the windfall. In other cases, everyone benefits.
Usually, a "reform" of taxes fails to live up to its advance billing. Yet there is one reform, albeit little known, that has an unbroken record of customer satisfaction. For whatever accidents of history, some peoples have tried it; and wherever tried, to the degree tried, it has worked. What is this tax reform that has remained a secret to most taxpayers? It is to reduce levies on wages and enterprise while collecting natural Rent.
Its simply a mechanical force of economics when the most productive asset becomes scarce. The market prices rises for certain well placed assets allowing some people to work less. That asset can be taxed between the gap of the best placed asset to those operating at the margins. That tax cannot be passed on because the marginal producers can undersell any attempt to reap a free premium.
This principle is alive and well today taught in business school and its known as price discrimination.
Its the same reason why price discrimination maximizes profits with no effect on units sold.
*Rich person will pay $10
*Poor person can pay $6
Cost to produce $5
price at $10? 1 unit sold with $5 profit.
price at $6? 2 units sold with $2 profit.
Price discrimination by timing or re-branding?
$10 for premium and $6 for white box basic = 2 units sold and $6 profit.
Thus tax discrimination for unearned values, like having a train stop built near your house, will capture value with no effect on production since its value added without directly producing. Its essentially leaching off of who builds the train stop. Its not tied to the price of the unit but to the land. Any attempt to recoup the tax and pass it on will be met by production at the margins.
You know you guys keep talking about this fair tax and they might just go with it, ON TOP OF THE INCOME TAX. Careful what you're asking for, someone will suggest we try it and transition to it from the income tax. As soon as the federal government gets a taste of a national sales tax they may decide to keep both.
Part of the fair tax proposal is to eliminate the IRS. Its not needed with the fair tax
Part of the fair tax proposal is to eliminate the IRS. Its not needed with the fair tax
Lol, you know how things work, they start one and say they will phase the other out.... Opps, something came up, we're going to keep both.
But it isn't ever going to happen, people aren't that dumb, we already know the wealthy will evade the tax and leave it for the poor that buy the wealthy's plastic trash to pay the tax bill.
Part of the fair tax proposal is to eliminate the IRS. Its not needed with the fair tax
You do realize the thread is about a flat tax right? You're welcome to start a new thread on the merits of your plan but don't try to confusion the issues discussed here.
Except not everyone benefits that same now do they? The poor and the rich benefit from government far more than the middle classes.
Paying is one side of the equation.
Local government redistributes more up from me (esp through regulation) than Washington redistributes down to me.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
