The rate is based on the stats they have for the amount of retail sales in the country. The economic boost comes mostly from removing the economic distortions of basing business decisions on tax consequences.
From what I understand of the nat'l sales tax...it won't apply to necessities, like food
Not quite. The FairTax proposal refunds all of the sales tax for spending up to the poverty line, but it makes no distinction between types of expenditures. The tax applies to all new goods and services at the retail level. You'd get taxed on what you spend, not on what you earn.
Some of the main benefits are 1) no need to compute and report your income, which is nobody else's business anyway, 2) you no longer need to consider the tax implications of an investment, you can just look for the risk/return that you're comfortable with, 3) the "underground economy" is no longer tax-free, since even crooks buy stuff in stores, 4) we get about ten trillion dollars repatriated, since there would be no benefit to keeping dollars in offshore banks anymore, and 5) the congress no longer gets to sell tax favors for campaign contributions.
If you believe that rich people pay anything close to the nominal rate, then I'd be happy to sell you two bridges.
The losers in the present system are the middle classes, who have enough money to loot, but not enough to afford the various devices that rich people use to reduce their taxes. If anyone making a million bucks a year actually pays out three hundred grand in taxes, they simply have an incompetent accountant.
I think you missed the part about the rebate. Under the FairTax law, everyone gets a monthly check equal to the amount of tax on all spending up to the poverty level.
You know, one rich kid did get away with an honor code violation. He cheated on a Spanish exam, and should have been expelled per the school's honor code. That rich kid was Teddy Kennedy, and the school was U. Va.
Now, if you want to claim that any other person, including Bush, cheated in school, then the burden of proof is yours.
The cost of IRS employees is noise. The real drag on the economy is excessive government spending, but even without getting a lid on the congress's profligate ways, there's a better way to collect the money, while doing far less damage. See here.
I think you're not taking into account how that initial outlay would be spent. It pays people, it buys equipment, etc, etc. Just look at how the politicians are jumping on the ethanol bandwagon, even though they know damned well it's a boondoggle. They do it because they want the voters in the farm states to be grateful for driving up corn prices.
It would appear that where it counted, I was more of an environmentalist than she was.
Naturally. Your coworker wasn't an environmentalist at all, but someone looking for an intimidation tactic. The "greener than thou" attitude is not merely phony, it's counterproductive to the goals that the environazi purports to advance.
I saw a lecture given by an Australian naturalist who's done a lot of study of the impact of introduced species on Australia, and he mentioned that people ask him all the time what they can do to help, and they STFU and go away as soon as he says "kill your cat."
Our radio emissions are a powerful repellent to intelligent life. Come on, if you tuned in to earth and heard all about Paris Hilton, Disco, or one of FDR's "fireside chats", wouldn't you just keep on going by?
Better still to use ocean water as a heat sink, and run a stirling cycle engine on the heat difference between surface and deep water temperatures. Bringing hot water up from the vents is a lot more trouble.
IIRC American Indians, many African cultures, and even our old agricultural society were much respectful of the environment.
Bullshit. The American indians simply lacked the technology to have a significant impact on their environment until they got horses, at which point their population expanded and they routinely exhausted hunting grounds, and became far more mobile as a result. As for African cultures, the majority of the Sahara desert became so because of goats, which were protected from predators by humans.
The fact is, it's the industrialized world that first became concerned about the environment, because we're rich enough to have the luxury of considering issues beyond subsistence.
Slashdot Mirror
The rate is based on the stats they have for the amount of retail sales in the country. The economic boost comes mostly from removing the economic distortions of basing business decisions on tax consequences.
-jcr
From what I understand of the nat'l sales tax...it won't apply to necessities, like food
Not quite. The FairTax proposal refunds all of the sales tax for spending up to the poverty line, but it makes no distinction between types of expenditures. The tax applies to all new goods and services at the retail level. You'd get taxed on what you spend, not on what you earn.
Some of the main benefits are 1) no need to compute and report your income, which is nobody else's business anyway, 2) you no longer need to consider the tax implications of an investment, you can just look for the risk/return that you're comfortable with, 3) the "underground economy" is no longer tax-free, since even crooks buy stuff in stores, 4) we get about ten trillion dollars repatriated, since there would be no benefit to keeping dollars in offshore banks anymore, and 5) the congress no longer gets to sell tax favors for campaign contributions.
-jcr
If you believe that rich people pay anything close to the nominal rate, then I'd be happy to sell you two bridges.
The losers in the present system are the middle classes, who have enough money to loot, but not enough to afford the various devices that rich people use to reduce their taxes. If anyone making a million bucks a year actually pays out three hundred grand in taxes, they simply have an incompetent accountant.
-jcr
I think you missed the part about the rebate. Under the FairTax law, everyone gets a monthly check equal to the amount of tax on all spending up to the poverty level.
-jcr
And there's me, with my 1040 worked out saying that I don't.
The sad thing is how few people have any idea of what they're really paying out. You're paying more than 10% for FICA alone.
-jcr
But I would be paying even more if it was a sales tax.
You haven't actually read the fairtax proposal, have you?
Start Here.
-jcr
I'm just a guy who would rather have a 10% smaller paycheck
Ah, I see you're in the market for a bridge.
You're paying far more than 10%.
-jcr
Oh, you're so clever. Are you a lobbyist or a congressional staffer?
-jcr
You know, one rich kid did get away with an honor code violation. He cheated on a Spanish exam, and should have been expelled per the school's honor code. That rich kid was Teddy Kennedy, and the school was U. Va.
Now, if you want to claim that any other person, including Bush, cheated in school, then the burden of proof is yours.
-jcr
Monkeys can be trained to pilot space vehicles too.
No monkey ever piloted a space vehicle. They were put aboard capsules that followed a programmed flight profile.
-jcr
Um, no. Daddy's coattails help to get in the door, but graduation still requires passing the courses.
-jcr
The cost of IRS employees is noise. The real drag on the economy is excessive government spending, but even without getting a lid on the congress's profligate ways, there's a better way to collect the money, while doing far less damage. See here.
-jcr
I think you're not taking into account how that initial outlay would be spent. It pays people, it buys equipment, etc, etc. Just look at how the politicians are jumping on the ethanol bandwagon, even though they know damned well it's a boondoggle. They do it because they want the voters in the farm states to be grateful for driving up corn prices.
-jcr
It would appear that where it counted, I was more of an environmentalist than she was.
Naturally. Your coworker wasn't an environmentalist at all, but someone looking for an intimidation tactic. The "greener than thou" attitude is not merely phony, it's counterproductive to the goals that the environazi purports to advance.
I saw a lecture given by an Australian naturalist who's done a lot of study of the impact of introduced species on Australia, and he mentioned that people ask him all the time what they can do to help, and they STFU and go away as soon as he says "kill your cat."
-jcr
Our radio emissions are a powerful repellent to intelligent life. Come on, if you tuned in to earth and heard all about Paris Hilton, Disco, or one of FDR's "fireside chats", wouldn't you just keep on going by?
-jcr
Yeah, it would take about as many goats are there are in North Africa today, for a couple of thousand years. It didn't happen all at once.
-jcr
Stereotype?
The truth hurts, don't it? You're a racist. Go cope.
-jcr
Better still to use ocean water as a heat sink, and run a stirling cycle engine on the heat difference between surface and deep water temperatures. Bringing hot water up from the vents is a lot more trouble.
-jcr
I was talking about the philosophy of life
WTF do you know about their "philosophy of life"? Do you even realize that you're dealing in stereotypes?
Man, you liberal racists really take the cake.
-jcr
People are people, and trying to ascribe any characteristics to a group like "indians are more in tune with the environment" is nothing but racism.
-jcr
IIRC American Indians, many African cultures, and even our old agricultural society were much respectful of the environment.
Bullshit. The American indians simply lacked the technology to have a significant impact on their environment until they got horses, at which point their population expanded and they routinely exhausted hunting grounds, and became far more mobile as a result. As for African cultures, the majority of the Sahara desert became so because of goats, which were protected from predators by humans.
The fact is, it's the industrialized world that first became concerned about the environment, because we're rich enough to have the luxury of considering issues beyond subsistence.
-jcr
Wow, that is bizarre. that sounds like very sloppy work on the part of the bank, the receiver, or both.
-jcr
How was the perp able to withdraw money from a frozen account?
-jcr
How much work is it to make a koran and a toilet in Second Life?
-jcr
Are you posting AC because you know that you're lying through your teeth?
AAC is a standard that anyone can license from the MPEG-4 patent pool.
-jcr