Sarah Palin

[Fishhand]

Hey Fishhand. Did you know that when taxes are lower on those making $250,000 or more (Chief will like this) revenues go up for the government. Raise them and revenues go down.

P.S: You can thank the best president in modern history (no not Clinton as much as you would like) for proving this correct.

Ronald (don't take crap from communist Chinese or Russia) Reagan

To quote bigredbirdfan, "Sources other than blogs please. Real facts."

[OzarkKid07]

I would just like to point out that there are not just Obama supporters and McCain supporters out there. I mean, apart from the polls that show that Sarah Palin could probably beat all of them if that vote were a possibility, there are a lot of us who are completely disgusted with both parties. As Glenn Beck said, both parties have sold their souls. The liberals in politics are spinmasters and the liberals who make up the constituency are just misled and confused. Republicans, though they are the party of true reform, starting with Abraham Lincoln, have compromised and buckled to appease the liberals so much that they are mostly moderate in their political views. There are a few true CONSERVATIVES, such as Sarah Palin, who are choosing to dress up as Republicans because the moo-cow herd mentality of our nation will not deviate from the conformist path and elect someone who has ideas and ideals and a desire to actually put the power in the hands of the people, rather than in the hands of elected officials who, after ONE TERM, get full salary and full benefits FOR LIFE. I fall into a growing demographic of people who support McCain and Palin (not necessarily in that order) because they are the closest to what we believe in, while still having a chance to get elected. It wouldn't do us a lot of good to still be rooting for Huckabee, who is a true conservative, so we are forced to accept some bologna in order to stay away from the ALL OUT SOCIALISM and borderline fascism that would exist under a far left government.

That all being said, whatever your affiliation, I HIGHLY recommend that you take a good long look at the FairTax. Read the FairTax book. Go to the website. Get your questions answered and think critically about it. That is the first step in returning the power in our nation to the people. Private property and money is the basic building block of a free country, and government control of ANY percentage of those things the beginning of Marxist communism. Under FairTax, American people would get the CHOICE (that word that so many liberals hide behind for their rantings) of when to pay taxes and how much to pay. Also, Americans living at poverty level or below would pay NO federal taxes. Finally, you wouldn't have to rent your land from the government anymore and all the taxes that are "gotcha" taxes such as the gift tax, the death tax, and the estate/inheritance tax, would be gone. Currently, we have very little control individually over our taxes, and FairTax would return that control back to us while actually taxing the "underground" black markets, tourists, and illegals that currently do not contribute at all. Our revenue would go up, but it would be based on people consumption and support of the economy, rather than on people's hard work.

[soggyfeet]

I like the idea of the fair tax. The problem I see is the loopholes. I can just imagine all the people opening business so they could be tax exempt on purchases and then neverselling anything so they show a loss at the end of the year. I dont know much about taxes, but I do know that people will do anything they can to beat the system and put the honest hard working ones paying the bills. I can see it now the barter system comeing back and people tradeing goods drying up the governments bankrole causeing income tax to return with a 23% national sales tax and a 6 to 7% local and state saes tax. I know the loopholes in our current tax plan will never be filled cause the lawyers like them too much and benefit greatly but I belive this is what we need to fix. We have a plan that has been effect for years, we just need to improve it and close the loopholes. Weather we 30% tax up front or 30% on purchases doesnt matter its all the same. I do see where the fairtax will greatly help out investors being no income tax.

[OzarkKid07]

Soggyfeet, that is a very astute observation of a potential loop hole, and I am glad you are really putting it to thought, but they already covered that in HR25. EVERYONE in the U.S. pays the sales tax on retail items. Individuals, families, business, non-profits, churches, government... EVERYONE. There are NO exemptions for anyone. ANd FairTax is printed separately on the receipt so that the person has an awareness of how much tax they are paying. Unless you want no record of having purchased an item, in which you get no power of return or exchange and no possibility of warranty, and unless that business wants to have a very shady customer base, taxes will be turned in by the collection point, which is every business. There will of course be some degree of an underground, but that is inevitable under ANY tax plan.

[Danoinark]

Soggyfeet, that is a very astute observation of a potential loop hole, and I am glad you are really putting it to thought, but they already covered that in HR25. EVERYONE in the U.S. pays the sales tax on retail items. Individuals, families, business, non-profits, churches, government... EVERYONE. There are NO exemptions for anyone. ANd FairTax is printed separately on the receipt so that the person has an awareness of how much tax they are paying. Unless you want no record of having purchased an item, in which you get no power of return or exchange and no possibil?ity of warranty, and unless that business wants to have a very shady customer base, taxes will be turned in by the collection point, which is every business. There will of course be some degree of an underground, but that is inevitable under ANY tax plan.

Ozark

I have read some about it and did follow my Governor Huckabee's discussion of his plan.

I sort of like it actually. If it was policed in that it was ALL equal I would be 100 percent in favor.

It works in other countries I assume.

How do the state's and local government's benefit? Are they allowed to collect tax, ie income, sales, etc? I am sure local property taxes would always be collected. It would behoove us to keep a record for a bit as to how much sales tax we pay as opposed to income tax and sales tax and see what the difference would be.

The US tax code is what a zillion pages? Sounds like it could be reduced to one page.

Dano

[OzarkKid07]

Ozark

I have read some about it and did follow my Governor Huckabee's discussion of his plan.

I sort of like it actually. If it was policed in that it was ALL equal I would be 100 percent in favor.

It works in other countries I assume.

How do the state's and local government's benefit? Are they allowed to collect tax, ie income, sales, etc? I am sure local property taxes would always be collected. It would behoove us to keep a record for a bit as to how much sales tax we pay as opposed to income tax and sales tax and see what the difference would be.

The US tax code is what a zillion pages? Sounds like it could be reduced to one page.

Dano

Hi Dano! One of the great things about the FairTax is that it does not have to be policed very much. For sure, there is no April 15th, but the point of the FairTax is that if you can't afford to buy the item, you are not getting taxed. It's fair!

More than 80% of all tax returns are eliminated under the FairTax--every individual filing. What remains are retail outlets collecting the FairTax. Of these, 80 percent of all retail sales now occur at large retail chains like Wal-Mart. The point is oversight will still reside under the Treasury Department but the government's responsibility will be over a far smaller "universe" of tax collection points making compliance oversight far less costly and far more effective than the current system which costs $265 billion a year in compliance costs and still comes up $350 billion a year short of what is owed.

It is a federal tax though, and like now, states and local municipalities would have their own decision-making on how to tax their citizens. I can tell you though, few cities and states are going to want to elect officials that are in favor of income taxes once people get a taste of that freedom. They'll push for a FairTax at all levels. It will be a grassroots movement at all levels of government.

I think the tax code currently is 60,000 pages or so. Once the 16th amendment is repealed by the FairTax (HR 25, S 1025) there will be no tax code and no IRS.

ALso, if you go on www.fairtax.org, there is a calculator. Have your last year's tax info handy, and I mean all of it, not just gross wages, and it will tell you where you would stand under FairTax!

[Danoinark]

For sure, there is no April 15th, but the point of the FairTax is that if you can't afford to buy the item, you are not getting taxed. It's fair!

Probably the most appealing part of it. Sounds like the government cash flow would also be better in that I would suspect retailers would be paying in the tax monthly or quarterly.

I'll check out that url. Something like this might spurn more competition for goods and services. The retailer knows if he offers it for a less price, then the consumer pays less taxes. I could see price wars at the retail level. That would be a good thing.

Dano

[OzarkKid07]

I like the idea of the fair tax. The problem I see is the loopholes. I can just imagine all the people opening business so they could be tax exempt on purchases and then neverselling anything so they show a loss at the end of the year. I dont know much about taxes, but I do know that people will do anything they can to beat the system and put the honest hard working ones paying the bills. I can see it now the barter system comeing back and people tradeing goods drying up the governments bankrole causeing income tax to return with a 23% national sales tax and a 6 to 7% local and state saes tax. I know the loopholes in our current tax plan will never be filled cause the lawyers like them too much and benefit greatly but I belive this is what we need to fix. We have a plan that has been effect for years, we just need to improve it and close the loopholes. Weather we 30% tax up front or 30% on purchases doesnt matter its all the same. I do see where the fairtax will greatly help out investors being no income tax.

Soggyfeet, I just realized what you were getting at. Sorry. I don't really wake up until noon. :-) Here is a better answer to that point.

The FairTax has several features that make it difficult and very risky for persons to have a scam business in order to purchase items tax free. First, in order for any person to purchase items tax free for business purposes, the business has to be a registered seller and possess a registered seller certificate issued by the state sales tax authority. Registered sellers are expected to file monthly or quarterly sales tax returns with the state (depending on sales volume). The certificate enables the business to purchase tax free from wholesale vendors, but the vendor must retain a copy of the registration certificate to justify not having collected tax on the sale. When a business purchases items for business use from a retail vendor, they have to pay the tax on the purchase and take a credit against the tax due on their monthly sales tax return. They must keep invoices/receipts to document what they purchased and the amount of the purchase. They might also make note of the purpose of the purchase on the invoice.

Also, as registered sellers, they are subject to the possibility of being audited by the state. During such an audit, they will have to produce the invoices for all the “business purchases” that they did not pay sales tax on and will have to be able to show that they were bona fide business expenses. If they cannot prove this, then they will have to pay the taxes that should have been paid when the items were purchased, plus interest and penalties. The probability of being audited will be much greater than it is under the current system with its over 140 million tax filers. Under the FairTax, there will be less than 20 million businesses that will be filing sales tax returns and thus subject to the possibility of being audited. Thus, the probability of tax cheats getting caught will be much greater than it is today, making tax evasion riskier than it is today. Additionally, while the FairTax has much stronger taxpayer rights than does the current tax system, the FairTax legislation provides for a number of fines and penalties for noncompliance. It also authorizes a mechanism for reporting tax cheats and obtaining a reward. An example would be 1-800-TAX-CHET.

Another potential scam would be to have a “fake” family business in order to buy things for family members tax free. The FairTax has a specific provision to prevent this. Although it does not prohibit businesses from providing taxable property or services as gifts, prizes, rewards, or as remuneration for employment, the gift, reward, etc. is considered to be the conversion of property or services from business use to personal use and is therefore taxable. Likewise, there is a similar provision to prevent abuse of employee discounts. Under the FairTax, employer-provided employee discounts over 20 percent are taxable. The term “employee discount” means an employer’s offer of taxable property or services for sale to its employees or their families for less than the offer of such taxable property or services to the general public. If the employee discount amount exceeds 20 percent of the price to the general public, then the sale of such taxable property or services by the employer to the employee is considered the conversion of property or services to personal use and is subject to tax. The taxable amount is the amount by which the discount exceeds 20 percent of the price to the general public.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Hi Dano! One of the great things about the FairTax is that it does not have to be policed very much. For sure, there is no April 15th, but the point of the FairTax is that if you can't afford to buy the item, you are not getting taxed. It's fair!

That is exactly what is wrong with the so called Fair Tax, its unfair. Once its realized that it hits the lower incomes with a higher percentage of their disposable income, they'll start adding exceptions until its as complicated as today's tax system.

If you want fair, deduct a flat percentage from wages, either real or assumed. One flat low corporation tax would bring companies from all over the world to headquarter here, bringing billions in low taxes with them.

[OzarkKid07]

That is exactly what is wrong with the so called Fair Tax, its unfair. Once its realized that it hits the lower incomes with a higher percentage of their disposable income, they'll start adding exceptions until its as complicated as today's tax system.

If you want fair, deduct a flat percentage from wages, either real or assumed. One flat low corporation tax would bring companies from all over the world to headquarter here, bringing billions in low taxes with them.

Wayne, I can appreciate your point of view, and definitely appreciate your desire to watch out for the lower income families, but two things are ture here: 1) You must not have read the FairTax book or bill, in which there are very blatant facts addressing low-income families. 2) "THEY" can not start adding exceptions, unless "WE" let them because "THEY" is defined in the Constitution as "of the people, by the people, and for the people", so "THEY" is "US". The concept of "THEY" is a non-participant, irresponsible view of our government that has been put forth by fear-mongering and control-obsessed politicians.