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Political suicide? Quite the opposite for the GOP White House hopeful -- so far. But many call the plan for a national levy 'crackpot' (even if it would shut down the IRS).
WASHINGTON -- Mike Huckabee, one of the most conservative Republicans in the 2008 presidential race, has embraced one of the most radical ideas on the campaign trail: a plan to abolish all federal income and payroll taxes and replace them with a single 23% national sales tax.
The idea -- dubbed the "fair tax" by proponents -- has been a political asset for Huckabee; its well-organized backers have helped catapult him from the back of the presidential pack to its top tier.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
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The so-called Fairtax is about the dumbest idea to come along. It is the brainchild of a neo conservative Atlanta talk show host/lawyer named Neal Boortz. And the stupidist thing of all is that Boortz actually has managed to FOOL lots of working people into thinking that paying 23% on top of the already 8% we pay here for state, local and school is somehow a good deal. And many economist say the real rate would be more like 36% and not 23%. The fact is that almost all the tax burden would shift to the lowest 50% of earners in the country. Only the poor and the weathly would pay less under such a scheme. The poor because the prebate would offset almost all of their tax (if you are poor, you do not spend much) and the rich because they spend only a fraction of their incomes on living expenses. All the rest of us would pay out the ass! Thanks but no thanks. As much as I despise the current system, I will keep it rather than go to that.
that is the wrong direction for taxation. instead of that, politicians need to work on the property tax issue. people should not have to worry if they are going to be able to hold onto what is most likely their biggest asset.
that is the wrong direction for taxation. instead of that, politicians need to work on the property tax issue. people should not have to worry if they are going to be able to hold onto what is most likely their biggest asset.
It's a very misleading plan. The tax rate is actually 30 percent. 23 cents out of every dollar of good or service purchased is remitted to the federal government's taxing authority (the IRS doesn't go away). 77 cents is what you would normally pay without the "fairtax". You're paying another 30 percent on top of what you pay now... and it still doesn't balance the budget.
I am worried that the Fair Tax would be adopted without repealing the Income Tax (by that I mean making it unconstitutional at the Federal level). Then within a generation we would have both. It would start as only an income tax on the "rich" and then be expanded slowly but surely over the years.
Also, under the Fair Tax, what about those that already paid income tax on their retirement savings and then end up paying on that same money again when they spend it?
I would like to see the personal income tax abolished. It could be done if our politicians had any fiscal discipline. Of course, they have about as much discipline as an unruly mob!
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