Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Will the Fair Tax Raise Cain?

Herman Cain is a big fan of the "Fair Tax."

Me, I'm not so sure. We have to cut spending. Taxes are a secondary consideration.

Anonyman is not so sure the math adds up. Me, either.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought something like half of all Americans pay zero federal income tax (they don't know about the payroll tax, maybe). These people would never go for a national sales tax.

and however these people calculate their percentage, either 23% or 30% is too high!

Stephen said...

Regarding the rate ... why is our current income tax rate acceptable, but the proposed FairTax rate isn't? Because you'll see it all the time rather than once a year? The rate is designed to be federal revenue neutral (i.e., to raise the same amount of revenue as the federal income tax et al. does now)--so the cost of government on the country is already equivalent to the FairTax rate. If the FairTax's proposed rate is too high, what that really means is that the cost of government is too high. Of course we already knew that ... but at least we'd be reminded of it on every purchase we make, and maybe at last work up enough consistent outrage across the country to actually do something about it. The cost of government should be out in the open and in our faces, not hidden by being divided up and rarely seen as it is now.

Tom said...

I'm a fan of the Fair Tax, too. As for "adding up" -- does anyone think the income tax adds up? If we weren't so used to it, anyone proposing a tax system like what we have would be thought crazy.