Replace All Federal Taxes on Income with the Fair Tax Act , HR 25

A Fair Tax for Progressives

The FairTax continues to be perceived as a "conservative" or "Republican" initiative, and, of course, there's a lot for conservatives to like about it. But properly understood, the FairTax should be widely viewed as a conservative-progressive "win-win". The key, it seems to me, is for open-minded progressives to accept (or at least think about) the proposition that a tax is more truly progressive if it taxes the most the people who consume the most. That's the point I tried to make in this article I had in yesterday's Huffington Post.

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Comment by Bill Rollyson on May 19, 2012 at 10:21am: Robert, this is a really good article. A good job of responding on Huffington Post as well. It's a challenge to get many people to understand, money is not wealth. It is only a medium of exchange to obtain wealth. Wealth is what you obtain when you consume the money. Until consumption, the money does nothing for the owner. It is used by banks as reserves to provide loans and companies as capital to grow, providing opportunity for everyone.

A man with $1 billion in the bank living in cardboard shack has no wealth; he only has green paper that is being used to benefit others. The day he decides to use that money to buy wealth for his personal use is the proper point of taxation.

Comment by Douglas Fowler on April 20, 2012 at 12:53pm: To Robert Dell:

I would definitely agree with that, but I think that when most people think of "conservative" they don't immediately think about fiscal issues. The first thing that comes to mind is usually social issues or military policy. Also, the "conservatives" of the last 10 years have shown anything but fiscal restraint.

Comment by Robert Dell on April 20, 2012 at 11:38am: To Doug Fowler:

I think when it comes to the role of government in the economy generally, "conservative" is nearly synonomous with "libertarian" and "classical liberal."

Also, you may be interested in this essay by Kotlikoff suggesting that the corporate income tax, like the payroll tax, is regressive.

Comment by Douglas Fowler on April 20, 2012 at 7:35am: Good article. I actually identified myself as "progressive" up until a few years ago. Around 2008-2009 I adopted a much more libertarian view, but I have NEVER identified myself as "conservative" or "Republican." And speaking as a reformed liberal, I can tell you exactly what turned me on to the FairTax:

1. The Prebate

2. The revalation that businesses/corporations don't really pay taxes, they just pass them on.

As a (at the time) Democrat, when I learned about this two factors, my view of fiscal politics turned completely upside down.

Comment by Robert Williams on April 20, 2012 at 6:49am: Excellent points Robert, very well written. I hope it is accepted by the progressive audience you're targeting.

Please join me in this group: Progressives for the FairTax

Let's see if we can get more progressives onboard with the FairTax.