U.S. Congress - H.R.25 Fair Tax Act of 2009
H.R.25 - Fair Tax Act of 2009
To promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States. view all titles (2)
All Bill Titles
- Short: Fair Tax Act of 2009 as introduced.
- Official: To promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the income tax and other taxes, abolishing the Internal Revenue Service, and enacting a national sales tax to be administered primarily by the States. as introduced.
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- Past Seven Days: 2,507
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89%
Users Support Bill
2623 in favor / 309 opposed
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Displaying 61-90 of 225 total comments.
Americans are a naturally charitable people as proven worldwide. When Forbes ran on a flat tax platforms, one of his studies indicated that there was likely to be more charitable contributions because people would know what their disposable income would be versus an unknown in the income tax system.
I don't think charities would suffer. The highest portion of my income is taxed at around 28%. When I make a donation, 72% is my money. But I would have much more available to donate. I think it would be a wash.
In just reading and absorbing this idea, I can see how it would work for the US since the majority of citizens are uber consumerists. I for one would benefit greatly since my family has subsisted on minimal purchasing for years. I want my hard earned paycheck in full, not give up 30% of it weekly. I'd much rather invest it wisely and pay taxes on all my purchases. Whether it be food, land, gas etc. Give the money back to the people and let them dole it out as they see fit.
insert Thomas Jefferson quote on international banks here....all of them true
This bill is ridiculous! It is not only another feeble attempt at promoting the failed republican idea of supply-side economics but an attempt to place more of the tax burden on the poor. The supply-side theory has been dis-proven by the housing bubble and the dot-com bubble. Just because you build something does not mean people will buy it. Terrible idea and anyone who promotes this ideal has no clue what it is like running a business. In addition, the Bush 'refund' checks have not done what they were intended, putting more money in the hands of the wealthy does NOT mean investment into industry. It is a nice thought, but unless it is something drastic, then no one is going to change their habits.
One of the worst parts of this is that it levies a greater tax burden on the low-income. An 8% sales tax, instead of a 6% tax, on basic commodities has little effect on individuals making more than $40K, but if you make less than that then a greater percentage of your income goes to taxes. The tax burden shifts on to those who can, already not afford it.
This to me seems like another attempt to help out the people who wasted the first economic stimulus bill so they can horde more of their money and talk about how rich they are.
I appreciate the attempt to move towards smaller local governments, but this is just political stunt to gain support for a party that failed at promoting traditional republican ideals and has only promoted war and greed.
Instead of crying out of the burden that this supposedly would place on low income families, perhaps you should read the bill, in particular Chapter 3 as a whole. Then again that may make to much sense for your mentality, that is educating yourself instead of having a mouth piece tell you what to follow.
Furthermore, as Sales Tax works now in most states the necessities of life have NO sales tax, and would remain the same. Having lived in Illinois, and now California neither state taxes unprepared groceries. Groceries are the ONLY necessity of life that one may argue is affected by sales tax. Medicine is not sales taxed, nor are your utilities.
Therefore, your argument of a sales tax putting a burden on the "low income" is fundamentally flawed as well as being worn out. Income tax does nothing but punish the average person and reward others with money they've never have or will contribute.
Your comment stinks of your own partisan issues and lack of understanding. This housing bubble is not a failure of free market ideals, but a faiure of socialism. The current market issues evolved from special interests deciding that poor people should get loans even if they could not afford them...further they decided that the interest rates should be lowered to help them out. This destroys the fundamentals upon which sound economics and finance are based. Your arguments here are simply shallow attempts bash republicans and the wealthy...btw...those terms are not synonymous.
PLEASE do your research FIRST! With the monthly rebate checks this plan will NOT cost low income Americans ANY tax dollars!
Anyone that has questions about this Bill should read the Fair Tax book. I support this Bill. As for this story, I think the republicans are pandering to the masses at this point. No one in congress wants to give up income taxes. They are rallying behind an idea that they know will never pass. But, If you want to stimulate growth in the nation, make it easy and business friendly to do so. There would probably be an initial slowdown in consumer spending, but that wouldn't last. On the other hand, spending by business would likely increase dramatically, and international businesses would set up operations in this country because of the positive tax situation. More businesses bringing operations here, means more jobs.
The Federal government does not want this to happen. This will take too much control out of its hands.
The only way that I see this happening is a grass roots effort to put supporters of the bill into congress. We need to vote all incumbents out of office, until we can get this Bill passed. We need this government to be run by people that are like us, and not the career politicians that are only looking out for themselves.
I think that this bill is a fantastic idea that should have been brought forward years ago. Our tax system has complicated itself to the point where I am surprised that it does not collapse under it's own weight. It is not fair by any means. Honest, hard working Americans, who provide goods and services for the consumption of others are often hit the hardest. The worst part is that most are apathetic and fearful with regard to taxation. Dishonest people are too often rewarded by the current tax system.
Our current system has an immense amount of overhead with offices filled with public employees using public computer systems and other systems to perform their jobs. Buildings, agents, auditors, software, hardware, USPS usage costs, lawyers, etc. I could go on listing things. All of which comes out of the taxes paid by citizens. By cleaning up the tax system and eliminating the IRS altogether, we would also be able to save loads of money previously used simply to manage the collection and organization of income taxes.
My wife and I are taxed near 40%, roughly 30% is withheld for federal and state income tax. On top of that, here in California, our sales tax was just increased to 9.25% by vote. Now our state leaders want to add one cent per dollar... Then we have property taxes on top of that which are based on the value of our house when we bought it which is currently worth $100,000 less (which the county does not want to adjust because that's not more than half of the value of the home).
If income taxes were eliminated and sales taxes were raised to compensate the difference in revenue to the state and federal governments we would have a balanced system to some degree. We would actually get to keep the money we earn right off the bat and have the freedom to choose what we spend it on. With this system, the more stuff you buy the more taxes you contribute, which I think is very fair.
I hope to see this bill and others like it move forward toward the president and into law. I just wonder why we waited till now to do it rather than while President Bush was in office and it may have been an easier sell.
Is there an economic model for this at all? What happens when there's a recession and people spend less? If the only way the government is going to get money to do all the things we want government to do is based on sales, what happens when sales go down by 30% or 60%?
Economists at MIT and Harvard have done many studies on this. It proves out the theory. In addition, if revenues go down SO DO SERVICES. We can NOT SPEND OUR WAY TO PROSPERITY. When you have a shortfall in your budget at home do you SPEND MORE or SPEND LESS to get it back in control?
Government needs to do the same things as responsible American household budgeting has to do. Revenue is DOWN then SPENDING IS DOWN.
Then they should cut back on kickbacks and worthless spending choices that don't benefit America as a whole.
This is a horrible idea. Though too many people pay no taxes in this country, the poor should not pay taxes. A national sales tax would unduly burden the poor since most of their money goes to consumables. How do you think companies like Procter & Gamble, GE, etc. would do if a large portion of the public could no longer afford their products?
I agree that the IRS should be downsized, and those that are "supposed" to owe money do not have loopholes in which to get around the tax code. There should be a national, progressive income tax that can be filled out on a postcard. No more legislation or social engineering through the tax code. If you make $1MM a year, you owe $300,000, it should be that simple. I don't care how many kids you have or if you own a house. If you get paid in stock options, you owe capital gains tax on the amount you sell.
If it were this easy, with no loopholes, the individual tax burden could be lower across the board.
OMG! Do your research BEFORE you post. Under this plan the poor DO NOT pay taxes!
So does this repeal my property taxes, my being taxed for a license to operate a motor vehicle, and the taxation I endure to license a car? The bill is absurdly long! I don't care to read it all to find out.
I thought the poor were taxed and then handed a refund every month. That's not the same as not taxing them. Many of the poor don't have proper budgeting skills (or maybe money to budget) to make it even out, before the plan would wreck their finances.
Those taxes are all State or Local taxes. This is about Federal taxes.
The poor are already taxed from their paychecks for the same amount as under this plan, and then they get a refund. Most implementations of the Fair Tax utilize a prebate system, so they would get extra money before they were ever taxed. Either way, they end up with more of their own money under the Fair Tax than under income taxes.
I agree this "Fair Tax" idea is rather poor. It may be better than our current tax code, but I'm starting to think a hammer to the head might land in that category too.
If we just got rid of personal income taxes (replacing them with leaving the money in your pocket), government spending would only have to go down to the level it was in the 90's. The more pressing problem is getting the government to MASSIVELY cut spending and not how to best extract half our GPD from the people. I'm in favor of H.J.Res.48 from Ron Paul, which ends the personal income tax, among several other things.
If the argument here is that people don't want to give up 30-40% of their income and just have it all to themselves, then those people don't belong in any society. In a society we all work for common interests. The money you make was given to you by society. And if you want to keep it all that makes you an asshole, because we all have to give back to the society to keep it at some sort of equilibrium. I'm not talking about communism where there's theoretically no rich and no poor. I'm talking about some kind of balance. If you make 100k per year then it's your job in life to help out those who only know how to make 20k per year. If you don't then there's going to be a whole lot more people who are homeless and poor. And I know how everyone treats the homeless and the poor. So stop complaining about how much of your money THEY are taking from you because you are paying for peace of mind and a better society. I don't subscribe to any religious theory, but for all the people in this country that do you sure don't seem to practice any of your religion's beliefs about helping out your fellow man.
Haha wow. No. The money I made was earned by me putting in time towards my job. I want to keep it because I worked for it. I don't want to give up 30-40% of it to the government so they can pad their own checks or spend it in some other worthless place. Poor spending aside, I'd rather consciously make the choice while spending money to pay taxes rather than have them take away my theoretical money before I even get to see it. If I actually knew for certain that my money was going towards a better society and helping my fellow man, you wouldn't see this post. But it's not. So you are.
Wow, what childish thinking. So you are saying "taking" is more important than convincing people to "give". It's obvious you do not subscribe to any particular belief. If you did then the following sentence would make sense to you.
Not giving is not a sin. But theft is.
You are so eager to take another person's money and give it away. To add insult you'll call them a selfish asshole.
Perhaps you should let each decide to give according to their belief rather than deciding how their money will be given for them, sometimes against their beliefs (ie to charities deemed sinful).
Lets skip the communism gag, and just call it authoritarianism which is contrary to liberty. You are either being deceitful in your argument, are you are ignorant.
This is the FAIRest TAX you can impose. If folks (CONGRESS) would get off their duffs and ACTUALLY read it and worry about the economic impacts instead of the re-election impact this would have been done quite a while ago.
This tax takes into consideration those basic necessities for living in America and credits those folks accordingly. IF a person intends on living more lavishly then let them. There will be tax collected for the ADDITIONAL dollars they spend. Those taxes are on your desire to consume rather than your desire to work and or ability to pay. IT IS THE CHOICE OF THE CONSUMER!!!!!
Why is it that if a person works or is fortunate enough to work they are penalized with paying for those that are not capable or unwilling. If I am not working, I cut back on discretionary spending. My taxes would go down with this Bill. FINALLY I will be in control of how much I am taxed by how much I CHOSE to participate in discretionary purchases and the economy. Additionally, tourists, drug runners, mafia, etc will all now be TAXED and have NO POSSIBLE way of tax evasion. MORE revenue to the Government. NO MORE LOOPHOLES would exist so that accountants can do what they do best, which is help a business grow and become profitable through fiscally sound accounting practices INSTEAD of creative TAX EVASION strategies now employed in most every Company. Large or small. This would also reduce unemployment because of the impact to a business to pay more taxes when creating a job would be gone. The tax revenue is gained by INCREASING the employees' ability to CHOOSE to increase their discretionary spending.
Finally, America can become the LAND OF THE FREE once again.
Get on this BILL and get it passed. If will call it a dire emergency and the government and economy will fail if we don't, then can we get it attention and get passed? What is we call it a STIMULUS Bill? Which it is 100% accurate unlike HR1 and SB1 passed this month (What a JOKE).
I agree I should help my fellow man where and when. However, that is MY CHOICE not the dipstick governments.
For consideration to exemplify my point. In the fall we passed an $850B Financial Bailout. This was because, "NO OVERSIGHT CAUSED THE PROBLEM". Today we find out that they (the same government that claimed they needed this bailout) DID NOT INCLUDE OVERSIGHT.
I continue to help my fellow poor on my own dime AND continue to have 40-50% of my wages garnished by the government for the same. What happens when decide it is time for Government to do the same for us?
Socialism is the best for government until they GOVERNMENT RUNS OUT OF MONEY. You make a bill you pay it. Otherwise, don't make it.
That is from my Autoworker Father in a staunch Democratic upbringing. Let your God sort out how much you help you fellow man not this dipstick Government, who actually could give two bits whether they get helped or not.
Did anyone begin to think that this is just taking more and more from the poor of the United States? The Federal income tax is one of the few leveraging institutions left in our country, and this seeks to get rid of that by replacing that income by increasing sales tax, which is a tax that while it does generate money, only serves to keep the poor even more impoverished. Think about it, sales tax is a relatively small part of any bill though when one is below the poverty line, every penny counts. This bill appears to be underneath it all helping to increase the divide between rich and poor, which in a country where the only serious economic growth over the past couple of years has been among the hyper rich, this hardly seems to be the right course of action.
Please re-read the bill. This bill prebates any taxes that may be spent by the poor.
"freedom, fairness, and *economic opportunity*", huh? Why do we have to spend our existence being so obsessed about money?
Because regardless of society, it predicates the potential for our offspring to succeed.
Have more children. It'll answer more of the why questions in your life.
Great! But what if Americans all of sudden start saving their money instead of spending it?
Federal Government cuts back on services.
There are better options than this plan. I am happy to see ideas being forwarded. Of course, the current system is horrible but this is not the solution I would like to see.
I would like to see the income tax removed and the gap made up by removing some of the "Free Trade" legislation (which benefits corporations) and putting sensible tariffs back in place (which indirectly benefit workers) Most of the US income was generated by taxes of these types before the income tax was implemented.