Comments on: Book Review: The Fair Tax Book

By: Laronda Osburn

Laronda Osburn — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:33:49 +0000

I sometimes ponder how somebody can live in poverty. All I know for certain is that I thank God that I am in the USA.

By: Hank Van Gieson

Hank Van Gieson — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 11:15:32 +0000

When you can’t refute the message, attack the messenger. Chuck, I would challenge you to refute or correct anything I have written about the Fairtax. Turns out I do have lots of time to read and understand the details of HR25. But, I don’t work for the IRS. I’m an MIT alumnus, career Air Force pilot and officer, and 20 year Director of Government Affairs for a major aerospace company. I’ve been shot at and missed in two wars, defending your right to write any fool thing you care to. So, how about telling everyone just what disinformation you think is contained in my post?

Good luck!

By: Chuck B

Chuck B — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 21:04:13 +0000

Hank Van Gieson must have a lot of time on his hands and make his living off the income tax, because these disinformation paragraphs appear on just about any site where someone writes about the FairTax. No amount of disinformation will overcome the most vetted tax idea since President Reagan lowered the tax rate on individuals from 70% to 28% and doubled tax revenues over about 6 years in the 1980s. I’d be inclined to lowering my tax rate to 0% under the FairTax, then decide when I want to pay taxes while not having the federal government hold me guilty until proven innocent after cashing my remittance check each year.

By: Hank Van Gieson

Hank Van Gieson — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 14:41:45 +0000

Wow! You better reread that book. The prebate offsets the sales tax paid on spending up to the poverty level, not all spending up to the poverty level as you claimed. And, on the subject of the prebate, you are welcome to think about it as a refund of taxes paid, but it really isn’t. The prebate is a $600 billion annual cash grant entitlement which can be spent or saved as your circumstances allow. In short, it is another welfare program. The federal budget can’t stand another entitlement of this size when entitlements are squeezing out discretionary spending, including Defense discretionary. In the unlikely event that the Revenue Subcommittee of the House W&M Committee takes up HR25, I predict that the prebate would be the first thing to go. A targeted prebate or simply retaining the EITC would protect the poor from a regressive sales tas at one tenth the cost of the Fairtax prebate.

You are correct that there would be no sales tax on any goods for which the sales tax has been previously paid. But don’t expect to have any windfall savings. Used prices will quickly adjust to new prices with the sales tax. No tax revenue will flow to the Treasury for a used sale, but the used price will still contain a tax element. Think about it as the embedded cost of the Fairtax!

Reading one or both of the Fairtax marketing comic books written by a radio talk jock and an obscure Georgia Congressman does not qualify anyone as a Fairtax expert. They told only half of the story. I suggest you try fairtaxblog.com, where there is an extensive research section with studies by experts both pro and con Fairtax.

By: Steve

Steve — Sat, 08 Aug 2009 19:16:30 +0000

You know,that’s really not a bad idea. There’s something similar to that here in Canada but on a much smaller scale. We still pay income taxes and such, but about…20 years ago give or take,the government introduced something called the goods and services tax (GST). It’s a 7% tax (it’s since been lowered) that applies to a lot of consumer goods. On a quarterly basis, people below a certain income level get a small rebate from the government to help them cover the extra costs associated with buying things. Scaling it up to the model you’re talking about here definitely seems like something worth looking into.