Sunday, June 1, 2008

Why I Support the Fair Tax and Why I Think You Should Too

I know that you all are smart enough to know that the government takes income taxes out of your check each time you get paid; taxes for income, Medicare, and social security. This is taken out for your convenience so you hopefully won’t have to write a check to the government at tax time. But it’s really a dirty trick to make you look forward to getting a refund and to forget about how much you actually pay in taxes every year. Most people of my generation already have accepted the fact that we won’t see a penny of our social security when retirement comes around. Either that or they’ll raise the “retirement age” to 90 before you can collect your social security. The problem is when the issue of privatizing social security comes up, we the people freak out in outrage because apparently letting the government control your money is much less risky than letting you decide who to help you invest it.

My intent with this is to simplify the Fair Tax enough to spark your interest to learn more about it. Basically speaking, it is a national sales tax that replaces the current income tax system that is such a drain on us today. The Fair Tax will do several things to stimulate your own personal economic situation as well as the macro U.S. economic situation.

Here’s what it will do for you and your family.
-You will keep 100% of your paycheck (I don’t know about you, but I can spend my money better than the government does)
-Medicare and Social Security stay in tact and your interest is still funded
-You will get a prebate (a check) every month based on the # of people in your house to cover the fair tax amount on basic needs regardless of income
-The cost of goods and services you use now will should stay about the same, if not go down
-You pay taxes only when you choose to consume
-Eliminate the tax deadline and the costs associated with filing the taxes that you already pay
-Eliminates inheritance taxes, gift taxes, capital gains taxes, and all other ridiculous methods the government uses to rob you and your family on a daily basis
-Increases your ability to save tax-free

Here’s what it will do for the U.S.
-Bring jobs that were sent overseas back to the U.S.
-Encourage global companies to set up shop in the U.S. providing more jobs to Americans
-Corporations will not have to pay income taxes either, thereby driving down the cost of goods and services
-Collects taxes from tourists, illegals, and non-income earners every time they consume
-Takes the power from the federal government and puts it in the hands of the people

I can’t go into every detail here but I’m going to explain one very important thing as many people don’t understand this. Since you pay income taxes and the company you work for pays income taxes and other taxes just to have you as an employee, these costs are worked into the final price of the goods or services they offer. Their job is to make money not break even. (Even non-profits are not completely in the business of breaking even, because where would executives get their big fat bonuses?) So any increased cost a company faces, including tax increases on them, is passed on to you the consumer already. If those taxes go away, the cost of goods and services drop. The reason your goods and services will stay about the same is because these imbedded taxes will be removed and implemented in the form of the fair tax. But remember you’re now taking home 100% of your paycheck and keeping it, rather than 80%-90% or less of it. And you are receiving a check from the government every month to cover the taxes for the basic needs of your family.

One other important piece of information for you to ponder that should spark your interest. The fair tax is only collected once on brand new items. If you buy a used car or a used house, it isn’t collected, because all of those taxes were already collected the first time around.

Here’s what you need to do about it. Read the book. I paid $5 for it at Barnes and Noble on the clearance rack. I’m sure you can find a copy of it for cheap. I’ll even loan out my copy. Your other option is to go the website http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer and educate yourself. You can see if your representatives support it or not, and if they are a co-sponsor of one of the bills, which is HR 25 for the house of representative and S 1025 for the senate. Once you are educated, start talking with your family and friends about it to spread the word. Write your representatives too.

Don’t think of this as a right wing or left wing piece of legislation. Think of it as beneficial to everyone. Win-win for everyone. The nanny programs are kept that are generally seen as a good for a lot of people, but without burdening those that despise the abuse of the nanny programs. I can choose not to buy a new car if I don’t want to support it. Who knows, it may even stimulate those abusers of the nanny programs, to become productive members of society rather than the drain that they current are. I certainly can dream if I want to.

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