Fair Tax debate ONLY

[Vteckidd]

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/cox4.html

[BanginJimmy]

First, politicians cannot be trusted with a new tax traded for some existing tax

They cannot be trusted with the current tax system. This one is just more visable and applied to everyone, not just certain groups.

Further, the FairTax proposal can be passed by a simple majority of both houses of Congress plus the President's signature. But the much-touted repeal of the 16th Amendment, which authorizes the income tax, requires a much more demanding 2/3 vote in each house and then approval by ¾ of state legislatures. The likelihood of ending up with both the 23% federal tax and the current income tax is therefore all the greater.

The bills in both the house and senate have language to prevents the institution of the fairtax until the 16th amendment is repealed.

Second, the proposed national retail sales tax will be set at 23 percent to replace the revenues from the individual and corporate income tax, as well as the payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. Added to this 23 percent tax will be the states' average sales taxes of more than 6 percent.

We already pay that sales tax so this is a nonissue.

A 29 percent sales tax will generate pressure to turn the sales tax into a value-added tax (VAT).

This is nothing but baseless conjecture.

withholding was created in part to mask the actual level of taxation.

Something we actually agree about.

Added to this is the very serious concern of so many Americans becoming accustomed to a monthly check from Uncle Sam. A massive constituency will be created which will pressure Congress for increases in the definition of necessities.

There is plenty of research to back the amount of money that a family should receive for a prebate. We all know congress with try to add to that though in an effort to buy votes. This is already being done though with increases in welfare benefits, promises of tax cuts and other handout programs.

And fourth – and most importantly – working on this tax trade diverts scarce political energy from the cause of limiting federal spending and taxation to the cause of rearranging the means of tax collections.

no tax plan will ever limit govt spending. At least under the fairtax we can decide how much of our money goes to the govt. After that, we have no clue control with the fairtax than we do now.