Replace All Federal Taxes on Income with the Fair Tax Act , HR 25
VAT's The Matter?
Nancy Pelosi once again has brought up the idea of a VAT. This time on Charlie Rose's show and was written in an article in Investors Business Daily VAT's The Matter? . To quote her during the interview: "I would say, put everything on the table and subject it to the scrutiny that it deserves."
I say we take her up on the challenge and remind her and her colleagues of The Fair Tax. Any thoughts?
I say we take her up on the challenge and remind her and her colleagues of The Fair Tax. Any thoughts?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Randy Stone on -
Sean, I referenced the Fair Tax to their letter, not because they were talking about HR25, but that the Fair Tax will do all they wish for and more. Our current code is regressive and we all refer to the Fair Tax as progressive.
I know that they are against HR25 and I just find it a little funny that in their wish list to Pres Bush, that they were FOR the same things that the Fair Tax will provide.
They really at that point (2004), they were just trying to look good to gain votes and therefore gain full control again. They do not want the current code changed now that they have the power.
on another note, I read today that the GOP failed again to oust Mr Rangle from the Ways & Means Committee. These guys will continue to be a pain in our side.
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Permalink Reply by Sean Fagan on
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Ok, I understand your point.
Two things to remember - liberals now call themselves "progressives", and the republican party is powerless to accomplish anything, they are simply outnumbered, on every committee.
This is an important thing to remember before we start blaming republicans for what they fail to do (at least at this point in time anyway). Of course they failed to do so much more when they had control of Congress.
Finally, my side is not exactly where I feel the pain ;)
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Permalink Reply by Randy Stone on
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I understand where the pain is! Good point!
I also understand the GOP is outnumbered now. (I do expect that to change a little after 2010).
I was not aware of what the libertarians call themselves though.
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Considering that not a single member of Congress (both houses) has an "L" behind their name (their are two "I's" in the senate, everyone else is either a "D" or a "R") - I don't think it matters what Libertarians call themselves.
Personally, and no insult is intended to our Libertarian friends, I'd call them irrelevant.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Stone on
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Here is a poll in reference to Pelosi's article:
It will hurt us on the Fair Tax I think, although it is more in reference to VAT that the Fair Tax.
There is a big difference, but to those being polled will not remember that there is a difference when it is publicly described as a National Sales Tax
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/business/taxes/octob...
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Permalink Reply by Ken Hoagland on
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Wrote this at the end of May this year--seems like it might be relevant again--Ken:
The Consumption Tax That Does Make Sense by Ken Hoagland, May 29, 2009
The recent trial balloon out of perennially cash-hungry Washington testing whether Americans would abide a European style Value Added Tax is suffering the same fate as the doomed Hindenberg. The sooner this idea crashes and burns, the better. The proposed VAT would be added on top of the badly broken income tax, increasing American's tax burden and hiding even more federal taxes from plain sight. Yet another hidden federal tax would take the nation in exactly the wrong direction.
There is, however, a consumption tax that restores the proper relationship between citizen and government, brings about a new era of American economic growth and cuts the Gordian knot of complexity, unfairness and damage to our economy caused by our own tax system. Most significantly, this consumption tax, called the FairTax, reveals the price tag of federal spending to taxpayers picking up the tab. The most compelling virtue of the FairTax, in fact, may be that it turns every consumer in the United States into a "stakeholder" who will finally pressure politicians to limit spending. For this reason and because it strips Congress of the ability to manipulate the tax code for power and profit, the FairTax finds stiff opposition inside Washington and growing support outside the beltway.
Advocates for pending FairTax legislation rail against the destructive effects and corrupted application of the income tax system. They point to trillions of dollars of private investment that are expected to flow into the United States with elimination of corporate and capital gains taxes. They love the idea of illegal immigrants and the entire underground economy joining the tax base. They endorse the idea of an universal monthly "prebate" to offset the tax on the necessities of life which eliminates federal taxes on the poor and provides the middle class with dramatic tax reductions. And they like the idea of a simple, visible tax on consumption that entirely replaces the income tax system, freeing work, savings and investment from the hobbling effect of such taxes.
But it is the medicine for the Achilles heel of our democracy that may prove the most compelling strength of the FairTax. Our Founding Fathers warned that when, in a democracy, the public discovers it can vote itself wealth from the public treasury, self-government may destroy the economic foundation of the nation. Many would argue that cynically ambitious candidates and elected officials have been buying votes with the public treasury for years.
Top economists across the nation helped design the FairTax and have proved that it can replace all revenues now collected under the income tax system. Under the FairTax, every retail purchase of new goods and services is subject to federal taxation. The tax paid at the cash register is visible unlike taxes that are now hidden through payroll withholding and embedded within the price of goods and services. The FairTax visibly connects federal spending to earnings. Today, by contrast, massive spending for entitlements, stimulus projects, pet projects and every other government program seems like “free money” to a lot of voters. One need only look at the courting of the powerful senior citizen’s block of voters, or the growth of “earmarks” to understand the siren song of such promises both to elected officials and to the body politic. Neither voters nor politicians have been able to resist spending beyond our means.
The effect is destructive as politicians from both parties have taken us down a path of unsustainable debt. Some economists cite current and obligated future government debt at the local, state and federal level as so large that it threatens the “full faith and credit” of the United States.
Our destructive answer has been to spend even more by borrowing more from foreign creditors—both to assuage public fears and to address real problems. We are now immorally spending the earnings of our children and grandchildren on both the current challenges of our modern society and the politically popular wishes of entrenched interest groups across the political spectrum. The other primary answer from national leaders has been to collect less by legislating tax cuts in the legitimate hope that lower taxes will spur investment. If we were not already in such deep debt, the debate between the two sides might make sense and a rational middle ground might be achieved. But with more than $11 trillion of national debt, a looming Social Security IOU for tens of trillions more and $40-60 trillion of debt at the state and local level, this argument begins to look a lot like zealots endlessly arguing over whether to bake bread or grow wheat while standing in the middle of a long-parched desert.
Under the income tax system our earnings belong first to the federal government with only the remainder belonging to the citizen. Payroll withholding and direct taxation of earnings turns the whole notion of the American citizen as sovereign on its head and creates a nation of citizens--and now their offspring-- working first for our government. The FairTax restores the role of the citizen by insisting that what we earn belongs first to us and only through our consumption decisions is money then provided for the common good. Most significantly, it makes clear to every American the cost of government promises and programs. In this, the FairTax may prove not just a far better tax system but the best way to both strengthen our economy and provide needed medicine to our Republic.
Ken Hoagland is a national director of FairTax.org, the grassroots campaign to replace the income tax system with a non-regressive national retail sales tax. Pending legislation now has 53 co-sponsors. Find more information at FairTax.org
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Permalink Reply by Jim Tomasik on
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I just passed this back through an email. People are starting to get FairTax confused with the VAT.
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Permalink Reply by Randy Stone on
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Jim, I wonder if that was Pelosi's idea to begin with!
They want to crush our momentum any way they can. She likes "the code" too much!
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