The biggest issue is the political reality of Washington, DC. Populists hate consumption taxes because it takes away their ability to punish the rich for their success by whacking them with higher taxes than other taxpayers. Politicians in general hate it because it takes away their ability to use the tax code to legislate people's behavior by offering monetary incentives for the desired behavior. The accounting industry hates it because it would totally shift the landscape for personal income reporting. The consumer retail industry hates it because it would most likely cause a drop in consumer spending. Retail stores hate it because they would bear the burden of processing all those fees and forwarding them to the government.
The only people that really win are the rich, who would pay lower taxes than they do now, and people who are careful with their spending and tend to save a lot. On Feb 5, 2008 9:11 AM, Adam C wrote: > Cameron has inspired me. I think this subject is worthy of more > discussion. > > > First, I think that, at first at least, the Fair Tax would damage the > economy in every corner of America. When people see the $500 refrigerator > they want cost them $650, I think they will either put off the purchase, > buy > a lesser product, or just decide against it entirely. The throng of > lemmings that is America doesn't think logically or do simple math; they > react emotionally at best and primally at worst, the result of which will > be > a jolting (at least temporary) halt to consumer purchases. > > > > Second, I don't think manufacturers will just all of the sudden lower the > wholesale prices of their goods, nor will retailers. People are > inherently > greedy and manipulative. So the Fair Tax of 23%, combined with, say, a 7% > combined local and state sales tax (using my own location as an example), > would effectively just raise my cost by 23% (since I already pay the sales > tax on the $500 item). And there obviously would be no way to force > manufacturers or retailers to lower their prices. > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:253336 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
