I want to know your opinions on fairtax.
https://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer
Apparently no matter what political view a person has, conservative or liberal, 83% of people who have read about fairtax want it in our federal government.
Discuss.
I haven’t done any research on it, but my dad read the book and he’s a huge fan of it. He’s more conservative than I am, though (he considers himself moderate).
Edit: I read the wiki summary, it’s an interesting idea, I need to think about it more and do more research though.
I don’t understand why so many Americans hate taxes. Taxes are good.
I give America about 150 years till a serious landslide occurs in the stability of our nation.
EDIT: By that I mean America is killing itself through ignorance.
every single american seriously believes this time next year rodney. we will be millionaires
Taxes are good. Fairtax as I understand it isn’t trying to decrease taxes, it’s trying to redistribute and consolidate our taxes into one big tax (a 23% salestax). It makes it easier, decreases tax evasion, distributes taxes more evenly, and makes taxation/spending more transparent. At least in theory, whether or not it would work or not is anyone’s guess. Again, I need to do a lot more research on it.
Thing is, what about peeps who don’t have much cash anyway? The decrease in income tax won’t make much of a difference if you’re earning next to nothing, but such an increase in sales tax would have quite an impact.
With no income tax, stores, suppliers, and even businesses will have no reason to charge as much as they do already. Supply and demand would then change the new higher prices to their original average prices. People also will not need to pay others to do their paper work for taxes, such as accountants.
Our economy would go through the roof and would also bring back industry the the united states, which will bring in new jobs and money from other countries. And we would not need as many products from such places as china when we have our own industry.
How so?
Say a tube of tooth paste costs $4. Sales tax right now in my state is 2.7%. So they would add 1 cent of tax to that. Lets say the income tax to that is 15% so that would be 61 cents coming out of that sale of the tooth paste. Now with fairtax it would be a sales tax of 23% so that would be 92 cents.
So with income tax the seller would be receiving $3.38
With fairtax the seller would receive all $4.
So the seller is receiving more money and the government would also receive more with fairtax.
Later in the year the seller will not have to spend a big portion of his money to accountants to help him with his income tax as well. So their is a 30% increase of profit for both the seller and the government. They say that products under fairtax will be more expensive for around six months. So because the seller is saving so much money by not having to give up money for income tax and for paying other people to help him pay for his taxes. The seller will then see that if he is not getting a desired profit from selling toothpaste because the price is too high then he will drop the price of the toothpaste so that more people will buy it at a more affordable price. See where I’m going with this?
Class warfare is real, that’s what this is. The rich pushing for lower taxes, paid for by higher taxes for the middle class. “Fair” lol.
How are the rich not taxed by this either?
they are taxed LESS, the entire point of the progressive income tax is that people pay taxes proportional to what they earn. eliminate that, and rich people pay less, and everyone else pays more to make up the difference. its class warfare bro.
“The FairTax is regressive and shifts the tax burden onto lower and middle income people”
The truth: The FairTax actually eliminates and reimburses all federal taxes for those below the poverty line. This is accomplished through the universal prebate and by eliminating the highly regressive FICA payroll tax. Today, low and moderate income Americans pay far more in FICA taxes than income taxes. Those spending at twice the poverty level pay a FairTax of only 11.5 percent – a rate much lower than the income and payroll tax burden they bear today. Meanwhile, the wealthy pay the 23 percent retail sales tax on their retail purchases.
Under the federal income tax, slow economic growth and recessions have a disproportionately adverse impact on lower-income families. Breadwinners in these families are more likely to lose their jobs, are less likely to have the resources to weather bad economic times, and are more in need of the initial employment opportunities that a dynamic, growing economy provides. Retaining the present tax system makes economic progress needlessly slow and frustrates attempts at upward mobility through hard work and savings, thus harming low-income taxpayers the most.
In contrast, the FairTax dramatically improves economic growth and wage rates for all, but especially for lower-income families and individuals. In addition to receiving the monthly FairTax prebate, these taxpayers are freed from regressive payroll taxes, the federal income tax, and the compliance burdens associated with each. They pay no more business taxes hidden in the price of goods and services, and used goods are tax free.
How can the FairTax generate lower net tax rates for everyone and still pay for the same real government expenditures? The answer is two-fold. Firstly, the tax base is dramatically widened by including consumer spending from the underground economy (estimated at $1.5 trillion annually), and by including illegal immigrants, those who escape their fair share today through loopholes and gimmicks. In addition, 40 million foreign tourists a year will become American taxpayers as consumers here. Secondly, not everyone’s average net tax burden falls. For households whose major economic resource is accumulated wealth, the FairTax will deliver a net tax hike compared to the current system.
Consider, for example, your typical billionaire, of which America now has more than 400. These fortunate few are invested primarily in equities on which they pay taxes at a 15 percent rate, whether their income comes in the form of capital gains or dividends. In addition to having the income from their wealth taxed at a low rate, the principal of their wealth is completely untaxed either directly or indirectly. Assuming they and their heirs spend only the income earned on the wealth each year, the tax rate today is 15 percent. In contrast, under the FairTax, the effective tax rate is 23 percent. Hence, the very wealthy will pay more taxes when the FairTax is enacted. In a nutshell, those who spend more will pay more but low, moderate and middle income taxpayers will benefit from the greatest gains in reduced tax liabilities.
Rossman:
The way I see it:
Bob makes $10k/year. Steve makes $1m/year.
Bob has $5.5k/year in living expenses. He is taxed at your 11.5% rate or $1,150. This leaves him $3,350k/year spendable income.
Steve has $350k/year in living expenses. He is taxed at your 23% rate or $230,000. This leaves him $420k/year spendable income.
Bob only gets 33.5% of his income as spendable income. (66.5% of his income going to living expenses and taxes)
Steve, on the other hand, gets 42% of his income as spendable income (58% of his income going to living expenses and taxes)
This disproportion gets even greater as Steve’s level of income goes up (100m - 600k living expenses - 23% tax rate = 76% of his income as spendable income, for example)
Well then Bob should get a better job and should work harder. 
holy shit
Mass has 6.25%, and they’re talking about raising it again…
Believe it or not, I read that before posting ITT. There’s a huge difference between “middle class” and “below the poverty line.” That whole copypasted response is nothing but a red-herring - the point of this policy push is to take money from the middle class and give it to the rich. It’s got nothing to do with people “below the poverty line” because they don’t have any money to take. As far as the “the rich spend more, so they will be taxed more if spending is taxed instead of income” argument, rich people actually spend a far smaller percentage of their total income than people who need to spend their entire paycheck just to pay rent and eat. - edit, see Danielsango’s post for a more detailed explanation of how this works
So your saying the lower class will spend more on a weekly basis then the higher class?
Edit: Nvm.
Kind of irrelevant, ain’t it?