20090207

Thank Senator Enzi, updated

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., joined fellow senators to accept nearly 70,000 petitions from Americans who are against spending nearly $1,200,000,000,000.00 in the trillion dollar spending bill the Senate is debating.
"The American people are telling me and my colleagues to stop spending money we don’t have for programs we don’t need. I hear them loud and clear. . . . "


So thank him right away and keep thanking him.

So now, Senator, how about real economic stimulus? Stop taxing corporate income, end corporate welfare, stop imposing tax compliance costs on corporations, get the Federal Government out of the medical market, and let every Tom, Dick and Harry know exactly what the FedGov is costing them today, with every candy bar, stalk of celery, and stick of lumber.

Time for the national retail sales tax. Trash the income tax for businesses and individuals. The Obama Administration should jump at the chance to turn the income tax liability spotlight away from their nominees.

Though, having read the book, I would make some adjustments:
  • no FairTax levied against college tuition? Bullshit.
  • Paying the prebate to a Social Security number? Bullshit. Apply in person, prove your citizenship or immigration status and your age, receive a randomly-assigned identifying number that has no relation to SS, and reapply every year, certifying the whole thing top to bottom every time. Or no prebates for you.
  • Keep the prebates the same whether you live in Chicago or Cheyenne. This tax structure must not subsidize highly-taxed jurisdictions like the present one does.
  • Borrow a page from Charles Murray and keep the prebates as flat as possible, whether the payee has only himself or herself to support, or x number of dependents.
  • Borrow the whole book from Murray. As the Federal Government becomes more solvent, let us phase various targeted spending programs out and direct that money into the prebates instead. We can't go to The (Murray) Plan in full right away, but the FairTax can point us in that direction.

2 comments:

steve keller said...

I agree with all you are saying except for education. I do believe cost of education should be tax exempt.

But, here are two changes I would add to your list.

First, I believe a tax should be applied to every purchase; this includes new, used and service. I know the theory for not taxing used goods is to eliminate double taxation; but this would accomplish two things. By taxing used the tax rate could be reduced and it would also eliminate the incentive to sell new as used. Also, by taxing only new purchases, new home and new car sales will suffer.

Second, I believe all business purchase should be taxed except for raw materials and parts that make up the final product. This would prevent personal purchases such as cars, furniture, toilet paper ect. from being included as business expenses.

Fûz said...

Steve,
"personal purchases such as cars, furniture, toilet paper ect. from being included as business expenses."

If the retail sales tax is put in place, there's no incentive for a business to list anything as a business expense. No tax benefit to it. There will be temptation to buy things through the business and use them personally, and that will require enforcement, no doubt about it.

"By taxing used, the tax rate could be reduced" I kinda like the tax rate being high. One of my chief reasons to back FairTax is to stress how much the Federal Government is spending so We the Payers can pressure them to spend less and tax less. A high rate, charged once, can't be glossed over. A lower rate dissipated among many more transactions can be increased by stealth and can be explained away by doublespeak.

"all business purchase should be taxed except for raw materials and parts that make up the final product." That looks like a value-added tax. One business's product is another business's raw material. The book explains how this proposal differs from a VAT and why we want FairTax rather than VAT.

So I maintain that taxing once, on only new products and services, has to be maintained for the FairTax to work.

Am curious: why spare education?