A work mate of mine told me about this proposed idea and while it looked nice at first, as any skeptic should, I had my doubts when I thought about it.
Me: So...you pay taxes only on what you buy, not on what you earn?
Co-worker: Yes, that's correct
Me: But...okay so let's take my salary. My employer is "buying" my time and energy so...doesn't that mean my salary is essentially taxed anyway?
Co-worker: No, it's only on products, not services.
Me: Okay...but now the guy who sells TV's is paying taxes but the guy who fixes TV's isn't. How is that fair?
I wasn't able to get further into the subject as break time ended but...am I completely misunderstanding Fair Tax or am I on to something here?
No, you're on the right track. There is no such thing as a "fair" tax.
Is fair tax at least an improvement in any way or just another doomed pipe dream? The idea behind was that insiders couldn't weasel out of it like they do with the system in place now. (a claim I find dubious at best)
Well, that was the idea of the Income Tax to begin with. Over time, guess what happened?
With a national sales tax, you'd be getting, "Oh, it's not fair for the poor to pay as much." "Oh, it's not fair for seniors to pay as much for pharmaceuticals." Before too long, you're back in the same mess, or even worse.
Not to mention the fact we'd likely get stuck with that AND Income Tax.
Quote from: MrBogosity on August 13, 2009, 09:16:16 PM
Well, that was the idea of the Income Tax to begin with. Over time, guess what happened?
With a national sales tax, you'd be getting, "Oh, it's not fair for the poor to pay as much." "Oh, it's not fair for seniors to pay as much for pharmaceuticals." Before too long, you're back in the same mess, or even worse.
Not to mention the fact we'd likely get stuck with that AND Income Tax.
that would just suck ass all around
Now, when I mention that Ron Paul proposes cutting spending so that income tax can be eliminated completely, people just outright say that's impossible and the guy's crazy. Is there numerical proof that it is in fact possible?
You could cut Income Taxes right now, replace them with NOTHING, and pass the 1997 budget with no deficit.
Could you break that down Shane?
Yeah, no way my debate opponents would take my word on that.
They can get all of the budget information they could ever want from the GPO.
2010 estimated total receipts are $2.93 trillion. Estimated receipts for Income Taxes are $1.41 trillion. Subtract and you get $1.52 trillion. Total outlays in 1996 were $1.56 trillion. (Okay, I was a year off.)