Americans For Fair Taxation: Americans For Fair Taxation Apparently this would eliminate federal income taxes of all types and replace them with a single 23% sales tax. Do you guys think this sounds like a viable alternative to our current system of taxation? I don't like the current system of witholding income, but I'm not so sure that a 23% sales tax would really boost our economy. You would definitely rake in more cash, but imagine buying a $20,000 car. That's a tax of $4,600! I'm still reading the finer details of this plan and am undecided as to whether I like it or not.
There is really no reason to pursue the FairTax alternative. Most of the claims made by its proponents have since been discredited as misconstruing research (see Neal Boortz). 1. It is revenue neutral. The Federal government retains its monstrous size with the plan, and the tax rate will no doubt continue to increase with the size of the state. 2. The IRS is only replaced with what will be an equally disastrous federal agency that will have to enforce and collect sales tax. 3. It seems to me that it benefits corporations more than consumers/employees. The corporate income tax is a tax on profits, not revenue as the personal income tax is, and is actually a legal tax according to the constitution. So while laborers should not be forced to sacrifice the rewards of their toil, corporations are fair game. But without a tax on profit they won't have trouble circumnavigating the consumption tax by importing goods, then we are left with a market that neglects the consumer. 4. There are still state income and sales taxes, unless you assume every state would fall in line with the new tax system. 5. Some will end up paying less in taxes, while most will end up paying more. Look at all the politicians that support this and you'll notice they also support big government. Over 90% of the cosponsors for a FairTax bill also voted for Bush's unprecedented expansion of the government sponsored health industry. These aren't conservatives, something else is up, and I think its because corporations would prefer a consumption tax to one on income and profits. While it seems partially more voluntary than our current system, it is still forcing people to pay in order to live and not a worthy alternative to mplement. What we need is to shrink the Federal government, repeal the personal income tax and abolish the IRS. The FairTax does not fix any of the major moral or economical problems inherent to the personal income tax.