And not to put too fine a point on it, but continuing with the same corrupt, bloated and extremely costly tax code (compliance costs businesses and individuals nearly $300 billion and over 6 billion man-hours a year), would be ensuring that crony capitalism will continue to proliferate and corrupt our government and politics.
And yet you continue to back this tool of the wealthy. This is what I just cannot fathom. The Fair Tax, with its pre-bate to offset the regressive nature of a sales tax (something the fed doesn't do with gas and sin taxes today), is FAR superior to our current tax system no matter what rates at which you tax the various income brackets. It TERMINATES the ability of the wealthy and politicians to exploit the tax code to their advantage.
Issues of corruption and complicated codes aside, points which I think everyone agrees on, why should a regressive tax be used over a progressive one
Well just off the top of my head, let's look at the meaning of the word "fair" as that is the stated reasoning behind a progressive tax system.
FAIR: adj. Just and honest; IMPARTIAL; UNPREJUDICED; specif. FREE FROM DISCRIMINATION based on race, religion, sex, etc. - Webster's New World College Dictionary 3rd Edition.
A "progressive" tax system is not "fair" by that very definition as it discriminates on the basis of wealth or lack thereof.
But that point aside, the Fair Tax bill (H.R. 25) deals with the regressive nature of a sales tax by providing a monthly pre-bate to everyone for the basic necessities up to the federal poverty poverty level. This means no one will pay the Fair Tax on the purchase of those basic necessities. This could be administered much like an EBT card or by direct deposit - though there would no restrictions on what the pre-bate could be used for.
You see, the originators of the Fair Tax were quite well aware of the sorry state of the American electorate and their apparent devotion to the Marxist principle of "from each according to their ability to pay, to each according to their need." After more than a century of propaganda attacking our capitalist system and the redefining of the word "fair," they realized there was no way to sell a tax system that did not pay homage to the redistributionist design of our current tax system, hence the pre-bate.
But there's yet another reason for those in lower economic brackets to favor the Fair Tax; the tax is only levied on NEW goods, not used. So, if one buys a used car, used appliances, used clothes, used houses, used anything, they PAY NO TAXES on them!
And as upper income earners are almost certainly not going to be caught shopping at the Good Will, it will be they who continue to carry the lion's share of the tax burden.
And as H.R. 25 requires a super-majority of both Houses of Congress to alter the Fair Tax rate, the opportunity for political mischief with the tax code is ELIMINATED! No more tax breaks for one industry over another, no special tax loopholes for the wealthy or influential, no more advantages to be won by K Street lobbyists.
Best of all, April 15th becomes just another lovely spring day and those nearly $300 billion dollars wasted on compliance with the old tax code can be put to more productive uses.
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