Text 14401, 69 rader
Skriven 2005-10-08 05:32:25 av Raymond Yates (1:3613/48)
  Kommentar till text 14385 av SHANNON TALLEY (1:275/311)
Ärende: forever in debt
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 ST> Hey Roy,

 ST> I've read a great deal about the "Fair Tax" proposal.  I'm pretty open
 ST> to new ideas -- i.e. -- I'm still fairly young <g>, but I just can't
 ST> wrap around this thing.  Sure, groceries and common stuff wouldn't be
 ST> that big of a deal, but if I wanted to buy a new car -- for -- let's
 ST> say -- $25k, then
 ST> that car would now be (with the fair tax) considerably more!!  I mean
 ST> --  whew -- $35k?!?!   Unless I won the lottery, I just wouldn't buy a
 ST> new car, or anything 'new'.  I'm about to purchase a new treadmill
 ST> this year, and I'm going to spend about $800 on one (get to deduct a
 ST> portion from my taxes because it's part of my job :)...  If this new
 ST> fair tax were in effect, I'd be paying $1200 for the same treadmill
 ST> with no deduction -- so -- I wouldn't do it, I'd buy used instead and
 ST> pay "zero" taxes.

 ST> I think that (generally) many consumers would do the same thing.  I
 ST> don't think this 'fair tax' idea would do anything to stimulate
 ST> consumer growth. What is your take on it?

 ST> Shannon

I'm not Roy, but..

no no no no no no no ...

The FairTax is not an additional tax Shannon, it /replaces/ the 22% tax you
don't see in the things you buy now. Functionally it works like this:

Businesses do not pay tax, they pass that along to /you/. These taxes are
called "embedded taxes" and average about 22%. With the FairTax these taxes
are /abolished/ and replaced with a sales tax that /everyone/ pays at
point-of-sale, business, government, tourists, everyone.. More people paying
into the system that were not doing so before, that's good.

Now the things that industry produces cost less to them to make. That being
the case, the prices will go down. Why? Why won't the busnisses maintain the
higher price and accept the windfall profits?

Market Share. This happened last time the government cancelled the airline
tax. It was only a matter of days before Southwest Airlines lowered prices to
attract more market share. Once that dam burst /all/ airlines had to follow
suit, and they did.

The same thing will happen here. Market forces at work like it should be.

There's other advantages to the Fairtax as well. Consider that you will buy
"the basic essentials of life" and you will pay the tax on those things, but..
The government will send you a check each month reimbursing you for that,
according to a formula based on your family size.. That's not bad, and that
goes to /everyone/, rich or poor. One nice thing about the FairTax, is it's
equal to all, and does not punish prosperity, rather, it encourages it.

The FairTax is good for business. with no taxes, America would become a
tax-advantaged country and would be better positioned to compete in world
markets. With that concept, industries that are currently overseas would
relocate here to take advantage of the tax-free environment. When Daimler
bought Chrysler, you know why they based it in Germany? Tax advantage..

There's lot's more I can tell you, but this will do for now.

As it's planned, prices of what you pay now, and what you will pay with the
FairTax in place are pretty much the same.

The difference is you have 100% of the money in your paycheck, the additional
check from the government, and yes, buying used is not a bad idea.

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 * Origin: Ray's Rocket Shop - Out to Launch (1:3613/48)