tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024955889759249523.post5406717365326573627..comments2023-11-05T08:43:42.262+00:00Comments on John Barrys Blog: Mike Huckabees support for Fair Tax boosts his campaignJohn Barryhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02492900180819129920noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024955889759249523.post-14984746052494708752008-02-12T19:32:00.000+00:002008-02-12T19:32:00.000+00:00Actually, Fairtax does have some great points -- i...Actually, Fairtax does have some great points -- if it worked. How wonderful it would be to not have and IRS! <BR/><BR/>But what if Fairtax didn't work? What if, for example, half of the money it says it can collect, is impossile to collect?<BR/><BR/> Would then the fairtax have to be 46%?<BR/><BR/>Do you know that fairtax taxes the federal government, to pay for the federal government? <BR/><BR/>Neal Boortz wrote "The federal government itself will become a major taxpayer" (Page 148 in his Fair Tax Book,)<BR/><BR/>Tax the federal government to pay for the federal government. ??<BR/><BR/>Isn't that a bit like me, pretending I can pay myself 10,000 to cut my own grass? I can write the check, I can even deposit the check. And I can do this every day. But at the end of the month, I don't have 300,000 dollars.<BR/><BR/><BR/>Fair tax advoates want to claim the government "will become a major taxpayer" -- but it can't possibly be so. <BR/><BR/>Fairtax needs to show -- at least on paper -- that they can collect 2.3 trillion in taxes. And a good chuck of that 2.3 trillion has to be the tax on the federal government itself.<BR/><BR/>It can not happen that way.<BR/><BR/><BR/>So Fair tax would have to be higher than 23% to remain revenue neutral, just for this one fallacy. <BR/><BR/>Are there any other fallacies?<BR/><BR/>Fairtax can only work IF it gets people to pay 460 billion in taxes -- on their health care costs. People who get heart bypass surgery, cancer surgery -- people who are in nursing home. Famlies fighting leukemia and other expensive illnesses will get incredily hard by the "fairtax".<BR/><BR/>One family, who has a child with leukemia -- could get a 40,000 SALES tax.<BR/><BR/>One nursing home patient, who gets by on her social securty -- would get a sales tax of 25,000 a year -- plus more tax for any other medical costs.<BR/><BR/>One cancer patient, with surgery, chemo, and radiation, could have 50,000 in "sales taxes".<BR/><BR/>So you will have the absurdity of a person who is actually taxed MORE sales tax than they have income. <BR/><BR/>Therefore, one way or another -- these patients will get exemptions, either defacto exemptions -- by not paying it. Or dejure exemptions - by getting an official exemption.<BR/><BR/>EIther way, the Fairtax can't possibly collect 460 billion-dollars from these folks.<BR/><BR/>Most likely, the outcry from even attempting to tax an 80 year old stroke victim in a nursing home, would result in Congress exempting all health care cost from the "fair" tax.<BR/><BR/>Fair tax has to get 150 billion in taxes -- from people as a tax on their rent.<BR/><BR/>Fair tax has to get 150 billion by taxing people who buy new cars --- and pretend that new car sales won't drop because of the high taxes.<BR/><BR/>Fair tax has to pretend it can collet 200 billion by taxing people who buy new houses -- and pretend the huge tax on new homes wont diminish sales. <BR/><BR/>Group after group will scream bloody murder -- and get exemptions. <BR/><BR/>So with all these inevitable exemptions -- Fairtax rate would have to be 60-80%.MARKhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11472354404169272618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024955889759249523.post-44756482672462458582007-11-15T21:34:00.000+00:002007-11-15T21:34:00.000+00:00Thanks Ian for such a comprehensive and informativ...Thanks Ian for such a comprehensive and informative post re Mike Huckabee. Hopefully Mike gets sufficient financial support. He has the charisma and policies to make a superb President.John Barryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02492900180819129920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6024955889759249523.post-83877455620188283492007-11-15T03:42:00.000+00:002007-11-15T03:42:00.000+00:00Mike Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He comm...Mike Huckabee is an adroit public speaker. He communicates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the "Comments" section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “<B>Why didn't somebody do something?</B>” Very effective.<BR/><BR/>Huckabee is all about calling his listeners to "do something," to awaken them to their own empowerment, and <B>summon them to action in order that "Main Street," and not "Wall Street," will prevail in guarding the values and beliefs upon which the Republic was founded</B>.<BR/><BR/>Huckabee puts his listeners at ease, and reassures them, articulating clear concepts in a natural, easy style (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not as “mechanically-scripted” as Romney, nor angry or demanding, like a Ron Paul, and his large brown eyes, peering through a humble demeanor, draw a striking contrast to a unconvincing, tired-looking Thompson. <B>One can easily imagine sitting comfortably with Mike over a cup of coffee at the Main Street Cafe</B>. <BR/><BR/>Most importantly, perhaps, Huckabee convinces many that he is <B><A HREF="http://snipr.com/fthuckabeeonirs" REL="nofollow">ONE</A></B> with the FairTax grassroots movement. While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to <B><A HREF="http://snipurl.com/taxpanelrebutted" REL="nofollow">demagog</A></B> the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic <B><A HREF="http://snipurl.com/econsopenletter" REL="nofollow">community</A></B> continues to grow. Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic <B><A HREF="http://snipurl.com/meltdowninprogress" REL="nofollow">meltdown</A></B> because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible. <BR/><BR/>Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “<B><A HREF="http://snipurl.com/stephanopoulosdebate" REL="nofollow">This Week</A></B> with Geo. Stephanopoulos” drew a sharper contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." <B>That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's <I>raison d'etre</I></B>.<BR/><BR/>Of the FairTax, Huckabee <B><A HREF="http://snipr.com/fthuckabeeonirs" REL="nofollow">asserts</A></B> that it's...<BR/><BR/><I>• SIMPLE, easy to understand<BR/>• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes<BR/>• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share<BR/>• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions<BR/>• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible<BR/>• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty<BR/>• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise<BR/>• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity</I><BR/><BR/>A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:<BR/><BR/>For <B><I>individuals</I></B>:<BR/><I>• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish<BR/>• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions<BR/>• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"<BR/>• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)<BR/>• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices by 20%-30%<BR/>• Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels<BR/>• FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices<BR/>• Every household receives a monthly check, or "pre-bate"<BR/>• "Prebate" is "advance tax payback" for monthly consumption to poverty level<BR/>• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection<BR/>• <B>Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS</B><BR/>• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry<BR/>• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals<BR/>• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax<BR/>• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods<BR/>• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates</I><BR/><BR/>For <B><I>businesses</I></B>:<BR/><I>• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax<BR/>• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"<BR/>• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls<BR/>• <B>No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices</B><BR/>• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices<BR/>• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S<BR/>• <B>No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers</B><BR/>• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes<BR/>• Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition<BR/>• US exports increase their share of foreign markets</I><BR/><BR/>For the <B><I>country</I></B>:<BR/><I>• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax<BR/>• <B>Jobs return to the U.S.</B><BR/>• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.<BR/>• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"<BR/>• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"<BR/>• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases<BR/>• <B>No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business</B><BR/>• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow</I><BR/><BR/>Passionately supporting FairTax, Huckabee understands that, if elected President, Congress will have to present the bill for his signature. His call to action goes beyond his candidacy: <I>Main Street will have to <B><A HREF="http://snipr.com/scrapthecode" REL="nofollow">demand</A></B> that their legislators deliver the bill</I>.<BR/><BR/><I>(Permission is granted to reproduce, in whole or part. - Ian)</I>Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com