Hi, newbie here. Not sure how you feel about the FairTax system, I'm reading up on it; while it does sound nice at least in theory (then again, a lot of things seem to), I have to wonder: if FairTax eliminates the IRS, how does the federal government check how much taxes are owed to them? (On a side note, I've only begun researching the political scene and national matters, I'll be able to register to vote soon as my 18th birthday's coming up)
Have you read this summary already? http://useconomy.about.com/od/fiscalpolicy/p/Fair_Tax.htm I would definitely want to see this tried out at the state level before attempting to implement nation wide.
There are approximately 34 states that have a sales tax levy system with six of those states not having a state income tax. Furthermore, states that have a sales tax only levy such a tax on approxiamtely 1/3 of all final goods with no services being subject. Under the FairTax system, all final goods would be taxed and most services will be too. The real question is the rate. The proposed rate is 23%, but if you eliminate beef, milk, cheese, bread, and a couple of other necessities, that rate could jump as high as 50%. The other question is that many poeple will now be subject to excise tax regulations that one would not normally be involved now under most state sales tax systems. In this case, it will not, despite contrary popular belief, eliminate the IRS.
The fairtax is packaged to sound slick, but there is a lot of deception in how they sell it. Search for threads about the fairtax. It has been discussed extensively in the past.
"Fair tax" ? What exactly would that be? By their very nature, taxaes are generally not "fair". The goal, of course, is to try to make them as fair as practically possible. Different people extract different levels of benefit from "the common good", yet it is just not cost-effective or practical to keep track of how much of everything everyone is using. Just one example: the "fairest" way to collect taxes for roads is to make all the roads toll roads. But this also adds aditional cost and inconvenience, so it is not worth it.
