specifically- WHAT IS WRONG with a national sales tax to replace federal income tax?

Question

rather than file year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year after year.

why not simply have a national sales tax? exactly what is so terrible about eliminating the annual filing process?

sales tax works in all the states i have ever lived in....except Oregon. But they get you with the other taxes of couse in filing.

Bu why file- when you don't have to?

what in life could be sweeter than NOT filing year after year after year after year after year after year?

how could anyone rationally object to NOT HAVING to file every single year?

it's about the revenue. why not ease our annual burden

Answer 1

There is actually a big movement that is gaining momentum to just that. It is called the Fair Tax. You can read it about it here:

FairTax.org

and here the rebuttal at:

http://www.mises.org/story/1814

Answer 2

And you conservatives talk about other people being lazy! Yeah, I cringe about having to file my taxes too, but if it weren't for a the bribery that went into the tax code and all the consumer-friendliness that was removed in the name of "tax reform," it wouldn't be such a pain either.

If you take -1% of someone's $15,000 and 90% of someone else's $10,000,000, the first guy is still only left with $16,500, and the second is still "only" left with $1,000,000, but if the first guy pays 10% on $2500 worth of taxable purchases, that's 1.5% of his income in sales tax. If the second guy pays 10% on $50,000 worth of taxable purchases, that's only half a percent of his net income in taxes.

Most people (obviously not all) are already aware of this gross imbalance when it comes to sales taxes. That's why Republicans, in their eternal slyness, have come up with a less transparent scam known as the "flat tax" which, though it would work much the same way in principle, is easier to sneak past a gullible electorate that doesn't have the benefit of liberal wariness.

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Then, you learn something new every day. Seems there's a new, new twist on the tired "new" flat tax scam called the "fair tax." How do I know it's a scam? When Republicans start throwing around words like "progressive" without cringing at the "liberal" connotation they have, you know they have something up their sleeves. Or it could be just a foot in the door for their next privatization scam. You thought the I.R.S. was bad news? Wait until the Blackwater collection agents show up at your door!

But wait, there's more! Seems there's an even loonier bunch out there that wants to do away with taxation completely. Maybe it's a reincarnation of the Zon-Power Neo-Cheaters!

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It wasn't until just now that I even noticed your name (ex_righty), but that does explain a lot. If you've been steeped in regressive propaganda all your life, it's no wonder you would make this assumption. Since I just got done talking about the "fair tax" proposal, it would be useful to elaborate from that perspective ...

You may have noticed that conservatives have a language of irony. If so, I hope you'll catch on when I explain how all of the following are related by one word:
* "compassionate" conservatism
* "clear" skies
* "healthy" forests
* "fair" tax

And what is that one word that ties together all these adjectives? "NOT!" (or "psych!")

A phrase used in a similarly disingenuous vein is "right to work," which means in reality "right to have your grievances addressed by your friendly management team." Wal-Mart is an example of this scam—er, principle—in action.

Welcome into the light!

Answer 3

well... for one is discourages spending...

what you're talking about would be quite a large increase, not just some 5 cent state tax...

I know many people that go on spending sprees every year to buy things they can write off... cars, computers and much more... but not under your plan...

the other thing that is wrong with it is that the wealthy would be able to just "stop spending" to not pay any taxes... and that could result in huge gaps of renue that would need to be made up...

most of the sales tax ideas I've seen assume spending would stay the same, which it would most likely drop, at least some... without the current spending incentives...

which means it would have to be a higher tax rate than previously thought to be feasible... and the poor and middle class would most likely be paying a much larger percent of the taxes... when they can least afford it...

Answer 4

Have you ever thought about how regressive a sales tax is? The poor are paying taxes on 100% of their earnings because they are living from paycheck to paycheck and have to spend all of their money.

The rich can only spend so much....after 5 expensive cars and 6 mansions how many more do they need? Their excess money goes into things to make more money which doesn't get spent on taxable items. They end up paying on only a small percentage of the money they earn.

So the tax burden once more falls on the backs of the poor.

Answer 5

Because you end up paying more and getting less. For instance, Texas has no state tax, but has a. 8.5% sales tax. They have been repaving a 10-mile stretch of highway outside my base for at least the last 2 years, and have made very little progress. In my home commonwealth of Virginia, which has a state tax, that stretch of road would have been finished long ago. And that's just one aspect of the state government; you also have to worry about emergency response, police, fire departments, and the like.

Oh, and you don't have to file taxes every year, provided you don't owe the IRS any money, so that more or less nullifies your argument.

Answer 6

Nothing.
As I look over the objections to a fair tax I see the same reasons against it that I once held. That is until I read up on it and found that none of these things were true. For anyone that actually wants to know what the Fair Tax is all about and to have any questions they may have about it I suggest going to the website listed below.

Answer 7

Greetings. great idea. go to Canada and see how well they are doing with their Value Added tax on everything you buy there. The Canadians love paying nearly one and a half times as much for everything they buy. I assume you would too. Don't have to spend a few moments actually doing your own taxes and only have to pay maybe double the going sales tax rate or more? Great deal. I wonder though if you are aware that the Federal income tax is a emergency tax that was passed during World War 1, it was a temporary tax on income that was to be used to help pay for our glorious jumping in to get Americans killed in the trenches of Europe in their war. It was only passed for a year. and it has been renewed every year ever since then. It is not actually a law, the income tax, it is merely the world war 1 emergency tax that you are complaining about. Not the question of does the government have a right to tax our income, but the filling out of the tax papers? You definitely need to check out just what the income tax is. And you do not have to pay it. Of course the government will hassle you if you don't. But it is not a law. there are many tax resistors in the U.S. and our prisons are already overcrowded with political prisoners and no room to throw the rest of the nation in there with them, so the tax laws are rarely enforced against ordinary people. Not cash enhancing to throw political prisoners behind bars. do that too much and there will be no more taxes for the government to steal. no more money for them to wage wars with and get our children killed in. no more money for them to pocket and to share with their homies as our president does with his. And income tax is not about revenue. it is about the government using a outdated emergency tax against us to force us to pay money we do not owe them in the first place. Check and you will find that the revolutionary war was fought against taxation without representation. We have no representation in tax matters, never did. So you advocate paying the government voluntarily? instead of demanding your rights not to be taxed to support a war that ended nearly a hundred years ago? Great thinking. increase the taxes, that will help our economy a whole lot. after all we need more homeless that increased taxes on our overburdened economy are creating. I take it you do not fill out your own tax papers? Have someone else do it and pay a high income tax bill? You should take a few minutes and check out the laws on that. you would find, as most people would, that if you actually fill out the forms and claim what you are entitled to claim that you would owe very little tax. most people massively overpay because they have road tracks in their underware from fear of the internal revenue secret police, not because they actually owe the tax, but simply from fear.

Answer 8

Have you lived in a state with a high sales tax?

It makes the standard of living higher, thus it makes it more difficult for the poor to get by, yet the current income tax does the same thing.

I am for a flat tax and fiscal responsiblity. It just makes so much sense

Answer 9

The income tax is THE ONLY tax that has any thing to do with a person's ability to pay. Year after year after year, the poor pay the highest rate in taxes. So, do away with ALL taxes EXCEPT the income tax.

Answer 10

Nothing is wrong with it! It's a great solution, fair for everyone... except that it will put an entire branch of gov't and lots of tax attourneys and CPAs out of operation, which is why it won't happen.