Posted by
darrelmulloy on Thursday, December 27, 2007 2:36:14 PM
We have been hearing a lot lately about a so called "Fair Tax" which would be a tax on sales, rather than income. Advocates of this tax are telling us that it would be at a rate of 23%, yet under their plan if you purchase one dollar worth of goods, your total cost woulld be $1.30. I worked in the retail industry for a lot of years, and a 23% tax on one dollar worth of goods would amount to $1.23 not $1.30. True, the thirty cents does represent 23% of the total amount, but it is not a 23% tax, but a 30% tax. I have to ask myself, if the fair tax people will lie about a thing a simple as the proposed tax rate, what else are they willing to lie about?
That out of the way, my next concern is, if we are to find ourselves with a "Fair Tax" of even 23%, would we first rid ourselves of the IRS and repeal the 16th amendment? If not, sure as shootin' we would have them both.
The flat tax represents another problem. The original income tax, we were told, would only effect the very rich and then only at a small percent of their income, and that most people would never be subjected to the tax, Social Security used that same ploy. If the entire nation were taxed at a rate, say 15%, and we did not repeal the 16th amendment, we could find ourselves with both a flat tax and a progressive tax as well; flat at the 15% rate for the lowest income earners and progresive to the higher earners. Like the original inclome tax and Social Security, there would be nothing to prevent congress from raising the "flat rate".
How about a plan where we first repeal the 16th amendment, abolish the IRS, reduce government spending, cut off foreign aid, eliminate some un-constitutional departments, and then determine if we need any other form of government revenue. Now there's a new concept. Wait, no it's not, Ron Paul has been saying the same thing for years.