Fair Tax Complaints II

Some additional Fair Tax complaints ...

5. The Tax Would Be Too Hard to Collect
Sales tax is already collected in 45 of the 50 States. The legislation allows for the States to retain a portion of the money collected to pay for the collection, reporting, and enforcement of the law. Whatever the extra burden or cost may be to an individual State, it will be paid for from the revenues generated ... there will be no additional burden, other than the Fair Tax itself, imposed on the individuals living in any State.

6. The Rate Would Need to be Higher than 23% in order to Fund the Government at its Present Level
The Fair Tax has been developed to be revenue-neutral. This means the rate was set at that level which guaranteed the Federal Government would receive the same revenue it currently receives via the taxes that would be eliminated once the Fair Tax was adopted. Remember, the Fair Tax plan was developed by economists, not politicians. Additionally, since the Fair Tax plan was initially proposed, the revenues it would have raised at 23% have met or exceeded the revenues actually raised via the proposed eliminated taxes. Based upon the state of the economy at the time the plan is adopted, the rate may very well be less than 23%.

7. I Pay Less Than 23% in Taxes Now
Most likely, this is not the case. The income tax bracket most people fall into is 15%. Add the 7.65% in payroll taxes that everyone pays and you're right at 23%. Then, you need to add in all of the hidden taxes embedded in the price of everything you buy now, from goods (averaging 22%) to services (averaging 25%). Because the 23% Fair Tax will not be imposed on spending up to the poverty level, an individual spending $28,800 would pay an effective tax rate of only 15.6%, not 23%. Today, this individual would pay 17.3% of their income in taxes.

8. Cheating Will Be Rampant
Americans have been cheating on their taxes ever since there were, uh, taxes. Cheating on your income taxes now only requires that you, individually, do something ... or, actually, not do something. Cheating on the Fair Tax will require two parties to conspire - you, the buyer, and the retailer. Because there will not be less tax filers (only retailers and service providers, rather than every citizen plus these sellers), there will be less folks to monitor to ensure compliance. Plus, these businesses are already reporting their sales ... nothing changes for them.

9. This Will Never Pass Congress
There used to be a lot of things that people thought would never happen - Women getting the right to vote, the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union collapsing, free elections in Muslim countries. While passing the Fair Tax won't be easy, neither was any of these earth-shattering events. But, they did happen. And the Fair Tax can be passed if the PEOPLE want it! Congressmen and Senators are interested in keeping their jobs. If we, the PEOPLE, make the Fair Tax one of our priorities when we decide who to vote for, the candidates will listen. And if they don't make good on their promises, we need to toss them out of office until we find someone who will. If we all sit back and wait for someone else to do something, nothing will get done.

Visit the Americans for Fair Taxation website to see what you can do to ensure this absurd system of penalizing achievement and productivity is abolished.