On Tax Policy (Flat Tax Edition)
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Economy — Comments (6) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Daniel Mitchell discusses the flat tax. A good and educational read. I am more optimistic than is Mitchell that the implementation of a flat or consumption based tax system will bring about real economic growth benefits for the United States, despite the fact that the U.S. is, as Mitchell points out, an already rich country. Even if the United States sees as little as a half a point increase in GDP on a fairly consistent basis, that will mean a great deal indeed. It is true that the U.S. does not have as far to advance due to the implementation of a tax or consumption based system as do Russia, Estonia and other countries that have implemented alternative tax structures. But that does not mean that there are no advances whatsoever to be enjoyed. Far from it.
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On Tax Policy (Flat Tax Edition) 6 Comments (0 topical, 6 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
1. Get back to us when you have created a sufficient consensus to repeal or amend the XVIth Amendment.
2. Until then, you might like to join a campaign for tax reform. Even if flattening the current income tax is not your ideal solution, you would probably agree that it is an advance.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
International Editor of
The effort to get the FairTax passed is the major effort. Once it is in place, repealing the 16th Amendment will be very easy.
To get politicians onboard repealing the 16th Amendment without having a plan in place to replace the current Income Tax is not realistic.
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Eliminate the IRS and all payroll taxes! http://www.fairtax.org
Once it is in place, repealing the 16th Amendment will be very easy.
Taxes that start out being a 'replacement' for something else do have a habit of becoming additional. Just like 'temporary' taxes can end up being permanent. Income tax was introduced in the UK as a temporary measure for three years only in, iirc, 1851.
Giving politicians an extra tax to play with is always a mistake.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
International Editor of
Because we know that at the state level, no state that has sales tax has an income tax too....
Whoops.
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The CIA has better politicians than it has spies - Fred Thompson
There's nothing stopping the enactment of both an income tax and a consumption tax now, so the argument against the FairTax (that it would open the door to having both income and consumption taxes) seems a little goofy. That door is already wide open- and the only thing stopping it happening is not going to change: we don't want both.
Rep Linder has proposed adding a sunset provision to the FairTax; that if the 16th hasn't been repealed within 2 years of enacting the FairTax, that the FairTax should be repealed. None of the folks behind the FairTax want both kinds of taxes- heck, half the point of this campaign is for simpler taxation.
First, excerpts from...
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Where is the outrage over sky-high taxes, regulatory costs?
by Steve Higgins
7/15/07 - New Haven (CT) Register (Fair Use excerpts)
"Reports last week from two nonprofit groups should serve as a wake-up call to Americans to start agitating for tax reform . . .
"On Monday, the Competitive Enterprise Institute reported that the cost to consumers of complying with federal regulations exceeded $1 trillion in 2006 . . . almost 10 percent of the nation's gross domestic product. It's nearly half the amount of government spending.
"Even more worrisome, the cost of complying with these multitudinous regulations exceeds the amount of individual income tax paid in 2006, about $998 billion, as well as corporate incomes taxes of $277 billion.
"According to the Washington, DC-based advocacy group [ Americans for Tax Reform ], the average American had to work through July 11 this year just to pay all federal, state and local taxes, as well as regulatory costs including workers' compensation and unemployment benefits.
"Congress should take one of two paths: Either cut tax rates and government spending drastically, or adopt the FairTax, an innovative proposal that would involve abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and its income tax and replacing it with a simple national sales tax."
Full article here: http://snipr.com/wherestheoutrage
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The U.S. income tax system and the U.S. economy are inter-related, and are in DIRE trouble. If we, the citizens of these United States, do not act aggressively to spread the FairTax plan with family, friends and associates - our "nest eggs" stand to be devastated through a coming economic meltdown (see Kotlikoff interview, below).
Politicians are putting demogoguery and pandering above responsible governing - and they're able to do it because Americans do NOT understand - at the "get go" - politicians' / bankers' hunger for ever-increasing shares of the working person's bi-weekly paycheck; Americans do NOT understand the totality of taxes they pay. The FairTax shines the "light of day" on this, putting citizens back in charge to forcefully demand spending reductons.
YOU AND I MUST ACT to mobilize public opinion, and get the FairTax enacted, because the signs point to a probable devaluation of the dollar (for reissuance of an "Amero" ? - under a U.S.-sovereignty-busting North American Union? http://youtube.com/watch?v=6hiPrsc9g98 )
[ NOTE: Does this help clarify your understanding of what's going on globally? a) Bush's persistence on rewarding illegal immigration? b) the North American Highway now under construction in Texas (to stream cheap labor into the covertly-planned North American Union marketplace designed to compete with 21st-century China market? c) the gradual increase in value of the Chinese yuan by China corresponding to China's economic growth? (This will result in the dumping of dollar-denominated debt as its manufacturing economy grows stronger - which guarantees devaluing and ushering-in of the Amero.) ]
Keep in mind, this NAU strategy - supported by the "super-rich" (member-owners of the Fed) - together with their politician buddies who want NOTHING to do with FairTax - runs contrary to simply making the U.S. a "tax free zone" for business under the FairTax. Politicians and bankers lose power when the U.S. is returned to a "savings-driven economy" from a "debt/interest-driven" economy).
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Read the summary, "Laurence J. Kotlikoff (*) on Long-Term Fiscal Problems in the U.S.," and download the podcast here: http://taxfoundation.org/news/show/1859.html
(*) Prof. Laurence Kotlikoff (expert economist, and advocate, of the FairTax plan)
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Powerful "elites," members of political and monied-interest "clubs" reaching into the halls of power in Washington, depend on keeping you and me uninformed of their plans. It is up to YOU and ME to ACT - and not live in a state of denial - based on what we now know is clearly happening to our financial futures.
After you consult the Kotlikoff interview (above):
• (If you're a member of your State FairTax organization) Contact your state or local FairTax Director to learn what you can do. Find yours here: http://snipr.com/localftleaders
• (If you're just learning about the FairTax bill) Join FairTax.org here: http://snipurl.com/scrapthecode