Another reason to avoid the "Fair Tax" like the plague

[BushOut06]

Most of the arguments that I've seen against the "Fair Tax" deal with its regressive nature, the fact that it impacts the poor & middle class much more so than the rich, and rightly so. But another thing that the "Fair Tax" does is to completely eliminate all corporate taxes. So not only is the UnFair Tax shifting the tax burden away from the upper class in this country, but it completely spares the ones who should be paying the MOST taxes!

Of all of the tax "reform" schemes that I've seen over the years, this one has to be the most hare-brained and least thought out. Good luck telling people that giant corporations like Walmart don't have to federal taxes anymore, yet THEY have to pay at least 30% more for everything they purchase at Walmart!

[Hydra]

1. People should be adept at reading Orwellian by now

"Fair Tax" = "Fair for us, Unfair for you Tax"

[enid602]

2. fair tax

I'm not wild about the fair tax, but I might be in favor of a temporary 1% increase in all municipal sales taxes which (combined with a rollback of Bush's tax cuts) would serve to pay down our crippling debt, and act as an act of good faith to show the world that our days of financial recklessness are over. This might also help us control our further debt costs (interest on T-bills).

[lurky]

3. Can we put "Fair Tax" in quotes?

The name itself is a pernicious piece of propaganda, like the "Death Tax" and so many other right-wing focus-grouped pieces of crap. I feel like we are doing the R's work for them just by uttering the phrase.

[BushOut06]

5. Done

Of course, you can always refer to it as the UnFair Tax. That really gets the libertarian types pissed off.

[TomClash]

4. Fair Tax: Another Repuke Oxymoron

. . . brought to you by a gaggle of Repuke morons.

[ColbertWatcher]

6. From now on, we need a new name...

...Please don't call it the "fair tax" any more.

We need to call it something else, like the "Poor Tax" or the "Unburden the Filthy Rich Act", something, anything but the "Fair Tax"

[ProfessorGAC]

7. It's Also Not Revenue Neutral

Not at the taxation level proffered by the supporters. Most economists who've examined the proposal will tell you that it will create a shortfall (compared to current), of $350 to $420 billion, depending upon spending patterns on durable goods.

So, the Fair Tax people would have to raise the fraction of paid taxes by nearly 30% over their proposal, TO BREAK EVEN.
The Professor

[China_cat]

8. Nobody bothers to mention that the idea of a federal

sales tax doesn't eliminate the state sales tax. So you have to add that percentage to estimate how much more you'd actually have to pay. Most estimates bring it up to about 50% after the combination.

Living with a shortfall in the moment would become living...maybe.

[AndyTiedye]

12. It Wasn't Meant to Be. RP is a Libertarian and Wants to End Most Government Spending

[lame54]

9. But it's Fair - it says so right in the name

[lame54]

10. But it's Fair- it says so right in the name

[focusfan]

11. Very few corporations pay tax now

[KAZ]

13. Yeah, who needs that paltry 400 billion a year.

Chump change.

[rgbecker]

14. However few Corps pay, they still account for 342 Billion.

http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/tables/08s0461.xls

That's about 30% of the individual collections of 1168 billion. Under the Fair plan, who pays that?

If you are in the median income level or below, you are spending everything you make and under the fair plan will be paying 100% of the established rate be it 15 or 50%. If you have more income than you spend and thus can save some of it you will only be paying that percent of the established rate. So the more money you make the lower your tax rate, exactly the opposite of progressive tax Democrats have supported since the beginning of the income tax.

[OllieLotte]

17. That's a good question about the corporate taxes.

Under the Fair Tax everyone would receive a check equal to the estimated tax that a low income family would pay. So that would be a wash, it wouldn't affect low income people. Don't know the answer to the corporate tax question.

[Selatius]

15. That wouldn't be an argument in favor of the FairTax proposal.

That's an argument in favor of a progressive tax code.

[rgbecker]

16. Another thing...(More charts)

In 2006 6,200,000 Corps paid taxes.

Interestingly, in 1960 Corps paid 22 Billion, Individuals paid 45 Billion.

http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/table_6_2006_dp.xls