The Fairtax and embedded taxes

[scorcher863]

Many posters view the fairtax as a burden on the lower and middle class. This article from www.roanoke.com is a great example of the Fairtax's many unknown benefits (other than getting rid of the gains taxes levied on poker winnings.)

Article deleted for copyright reasons. Link substituted.

[bobman0330]

Umm, are bakers, farmers, millers, and truckers exempt from consumption tax?

[GoodCallYouWin]

iron, it's legal to copy something if your purpose is education or criticism, there's no need to go all 'nazi mod' on us.

[iron81]

2+2 copyright standards are stricter than what the law allows.

[GoodCallYouWin]

fair enough ^_^

[Bob Moss]

[ QUOTE ]
Even if the poor paid the entire 23 percent FairTax, they would be better off than now, but they don't. The FairTax provides a rebate of all tax paid on spending up to the federal poverty line to everybody. This cancels out all taxes for those living at or below the poverty line, $25,660 a year for a married couple and two children.


For the same family earning twice the poverty line ($51,320), half their taxes are rebated, yielding an effective rate of 11.5 percent. And even at triple the poverty level, $76,980, their effective rate is only 15.3 percent, still far better than the 28.4 percent the poorest of the poor pay now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought this system was supposed to be simple. This is already far more complicated than it should be, and it certainly will not be getting simpler over time.

Some percent of the tax will be refunded each year. So, that means we have to save ALL of our receipts for everything we buy, or get screwed? And the gubmint holds onto that money in the meantime, robbing me of interest or investment returns. The refunds are based on income, so... they will still be keeping track of our income? You can't get rid of the IRS if you want to do that.

This is all on top of the plainly obvious fact that income taxes are never going away, so all this does is provide another easy way for the feds to rob you.

The only upside to this plan I see is if you could just pay your tax, throw away your receipts, and be much more free from government meddling. But I highly doubt they'll make it that easy.

[TomCollins]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even if the poor paid the entire 23 percent FairTax, they would be better off than now, but they don't. The FairTax provides a rebate of all tax paid on spending up to the federal poverty line to everybody. This cancels out all taxes for those living at or below the poverty line, $25,660 a year for a married couple and two children.


For the same family earning twice the poverty line ($51,320), half their taxes are rebated, yielding an effective rate of 11.5 percent. And even at triple the poverty level, $76,980, their effective rate is only 15.3 percent, still far better than the 28.4 percent the poorest of the poor pay now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought this system was supposed to be simple. This is already far more complicated than it should be, and it certainly will not be getting simpler over time.

Some percent of the tax will be refunded each year. So, that means we have to save ALL of our receipts for everything we buy, or get screwed? And the gubmint holds onto that money in the meantime, robbing me of interest or investment returns. The refunds are based on income, so... they will still be keeping track of our income? You can't get rid of the IRS if you want to do that.

This is all on top of the plainly obvious fact that income taxes are never going away, so all this does is provide another easy way for the feds to rob you.

The only upside to this plan I see is if you could just pay your tax, throw away your receipts, and be much more free from government meddling. But I highly doubt they'll make it that easy.

[/ QUOTE ]

You don't need to save receipts. You should read the plan. Everyone gets a certain amount of tax prebated to them. If you buy used goods, you make out well. It assumes you spend $x per year. If you spend more, you don't get a bigger prebate. If you spend less, you don't get a smaller one. This may result in some people getting a net positive from the government (the very poor).

[IsaacW]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Even if the poor paid the entire 23 percent FairTax, they would be better off than now, but they don't. The FairTax provides a rebate of all tax paid on spending up to the federal poverty line to everybody. This cancels out all taxes for those living at or below the poverty line, $25,660 a year for a married couple and two children.


For the same family earning twice the poverty line ($51,320), half their taxes are rebated, yielding an effective rate of 11.5 percent. And even at triple the poverty level, $76,980, their effective rate is only 15.3 percent, still far better than the 28.4 percent the poorest of the poor pay now.

[/ QUOTE ]

I thought this system was supposed to be simple. This is already far more complicated than it should be, and it certainly will not be getting simpler over time.

Some percent of the tax will be refunded each year. So, that means we have to save ALL of our receipts for everything we buy, or get screwed? And the gubmint holds onto that money in the meantime, robbing me of interest or investment returns. The refunds are based on income, so... they will still be keeping track of our income? You can't get rid of the IRS if you want to do that.

This is all on top of the plainly obvious fact that income taxes are never going away, so all this does is provide another easy way for the feds to rob you.

The only upside to this plan I see is if you could just pay your tax, throw away your receipts, and be much more free from government meddling. But I highly doubt they'll make it that easy.

[/ QUOTE ]
The FairTax actually implements a "prebate" where the tax is refunded before it is paid. If you consume less than the poverty level you actually pay a negative tax rate. No receipts are required as the tax on poverty-level consumption is paid to each household each month. The FairTax act also explicitly repeals the income tax (along with other taxes).

[The Truth]

Question: fair tax rate = 23% (23% of all spent income is taxed)


Rich people pay 30%+ in income tax. This includes saved and invested income. They also pay embedded taxes the same as poor people.



So, the rich people are getting a tax break, yes or no?

[The Truth]

I am reading everything I can at fairtax.org, and I can't figure out where the extra money is coming from. They claim everyone gets a tax cut. The rich get a tax cut. The poor get a tax cut. The middle class gets a tax cut, but, wait, we generate 10% more income from the fair tax than we do from taxes that will be eliminated.

WTF?


I realize that people that don't pay taxes now, illegals and tax cheats, will pick up some of the slack. Is this population really that large?