Fair Tax

[Verik]

Actually the most famous top of the line yacht makers like Ferretti and Azimut are Italian. Americans definitely don't mind paying for European names like Ferrari, Rolex, etc. because you cannot compare the craftsmanship, and Ferretti and Azimut are definitely also in demand in the US. You can easily find a crew to deliver your yacht anywhere in the world (wouldn't that be the best job ever, lol), the delivery costs are not even a factor when you're paying for something that expensive. It definitely costs less than 23% of $30 million!

You are forgetting that the maker of the worlds largest and most expensive yachts is Trinity Yachts (based out of Missouri) and have made numerous $200+ million yachts for people like Paul Allen. So I imagine if the billionaires are getting their custom yachts from a domestic producer... That says something for craftsmanship. And I don't imagine that a billionaire is just going to be sold on a pretty name like middle class Americans may. Just because its from Europe does not inherently mean craftsmanship quality is greater.

If you look at history, the fastest way to the downfall of a country is to prevent or block international trade/globalization. We don't even need to get into that.

I absolutely agree with this, I never have seen a point in protectionism and I believe the more free the market the more efficient and maximized the results.

I like the idea of the fair tax but it just doesn't seem like it would work. Most fair tax advocates are trying to engineer something where they would get the best deal and forget that the whole point of taxation is to generate funds for the government.

The idea is not for the "best deal". The point is our economy is a consumption based economy with an incredibly low national savings rate (hell, in '05 we had a personal savings rate of 1%... even in this crisis we are still considered being at a high savings rate when it hasn't hit double digits, or even close to double digits for that matter at a measley 5%.... Japan saves 25-30% in the good years ffs). I'm not an advocate that is saying fair tax is best for everyone but you have to admit the greater American population spends outside their income level and that has been an issue for decades. Instead of taxing productivity, the concept is to tax consumption. While it may deter a small bit of consumption, it simultaneously increases income. Thus if you consider the spending I don't believe it will generate less revenue for the government but without empirical study, we really won't know if it will or not.

Theory supports the fair tax in our economy over that of a traditional income tax. (solow growth model to be precise.... ill upload scan in a sec)

What if we slightly lowered (not got rid of) income/corporate/etc taxes and proportionally increased sales taxes? That would be more realistic.

I see this being a more realistic compromise if whenever we see a red congress again (2012?).