The Fair Tax: Why Won’t Republicans Support It
Its fair to say that we need more debates. We have enough candidates to choose from, and I don’t think many people who hadn’t decided who they support before the debates were convinced. I think that’s good.
It’s okay if you have a chosen a candidate to support, as well, but not all of us have made up our mind yet. I’ve got a feeling candidates aren’t done throwing their hat in the ring for 2008, so maybe I’ll keep my options open.
As many of you know, I am a supporter of the Fair Tax. Governor Huckabee mentioned his support for the Fair Tax tonight, as did Governor Tancredo. Senator Mike Gravel has also pledged his support for the Fair Tax.
I did some quick research on these three candidates to see more of their thoughts.
I had trouble finding Mike Huckabee’s official website. A Google search revealed his exploratory site, and some fan pages, but no “official” Huckabee for president site. Weird! Let me know if I’m wrong
Anyway, none of these pages mention the Fair Tax, and his exploratory site mentions signing the No-Tax pledge, but this isn’t the Fair Tax
Governor Tancredo does appear to have an official site. It states that he supports either a flat tax or a national sales tax, but does not mention the Fair Tax
Senator Mike Gravel, however does support the Fair Tax, on his official site. Its on the 2nd line of his issues, on the front page.
I did some research to see Rep Ron Paul’s position. There is no official position, but from what I’ve read, he won’t support it because its revenue neutral. His supporters should explain to him that this is a tax that you choose to pay, so it can be a tax cut if you want it to be.. Its your decision, and I think he could respect that
So, a Democrat is the only major Candidate that specifically supports the Fair Tax. Why is that? This is a conservative idea, but conservatives won’t support it.
Is this a case of another Democrat who’s willing to step up, and actually address the issue with ideas, while Republicans scramble for wiggle room? I think it is, and it’s why I don’t generally vote Republican.
One of many, many reasons!!
At the end of this tax season, we can all agree that nobody enjoys paying income taxes. But wealthy conservatives positively hate it. They have been trying to get rid of our progressive income tax system for years. Their latest brainchild is the so-called “FairTax”–a sales tax based on consumption that would replace the income tax. The “FairTax” bill they have introduced in Congress would abolish all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replace them with one federal retail sales tax. The FairTax proponents want to tax us only on what we choose to spend on goods or services, not on what we earn as income. How convenient for those with very large incomes who spend a much smaller percentage of their income on goods and services then do those with less income. This federal sales tax is nothing more than a ploy to further reduce taxes paid by the wealthy and to shift the tax burden downward to the middle class who do most of the purchasing of goods and services. Replacing our system of progressive income taxation with a regressive national sales tax is the wrong way to go. Understanding the real reasons behind progressive taxation—taxing the wealthy at higher rates than the poor—could lead to more coherent—and more just—tax policies.
America’s government has two fundamental functions, protection and providing the public infrastructure. Protection includes the police, firefighters, emergency services, public health, and the military. The public infrastructure includes the basics needed for business and everyday life: roads, communications systems, water supplies, public education, the banking system, the courts for enforcing contracts and the law, air traffic control, support for basic scientific research, our national parks, and much more. We are usually aware of the protection function. But the public infrastructure, also provided by our taxes, is usually taken for granted. For most people, it seems like the public infrastructure was just put there by magic and that the government is taking money out of their pockets.
Protection and the public infrastructure serve the common good and as citizens we are financially responsible for maintaining this common good. If we shirked this responsibility, we could not maintain our roads, fund our schools, or protect ourselves from crime. Equally important, we could not create prosperity for ourselves because we would have no protection of our intellectual property, no oversight of markets, no means to enforce our contracts, no way to educate our workforce
An important point often lost in this debate is an appreciation for just how protection and the public infrastructure, which our taxes create and sustain, empower the wealthy in myriad ways to create and increase their wealth. Consider Bill Gates, the world’s richest person. Though he obviously benefited from his own intelligence and business sense, he could not have created or enlarged his personal wealth without the protection and public infrastructure provided by our government. The public legal system protected Microsoft’s patents and contracts. The tax-supported financial infrastructure enabled him to access capital markets and trade his stock in a market in which investors have confidence because of government oversight. He built his company with most of his employees educated in public schools and universities. Tax-funded research helped develop computer science and the internet. Trade laws enforced by the government protect his ability to sell his products abroad. These are but a few of the ways in which Bill Gates’ accumulation of wealth was made possible by the public infrastructure funded by our taxes.
Consider the biggest protection that our government provides– the military. Some 40 cents of every tax dollar is used for military expenditures. The simple fact is that our military protects the holdings of Bill Gates and our wealthy investors around the world including keeping the airways and seaways safe for the planes and ships that carry their goods and services across the globe. Our big multi-national corporations require a big military to protect their interests. Because the wealthy make greater use of the protection and the public infrastructure provided by our government, they have a greater obligation to pay for it. By paying higher taxes, they are merely paying their debt to society and investing in the protection and public infrastructure that sustains their wealth. We do need a “FairTax” and that means a truly progressive income tax in which the wealthy pay what they really owe to our government and our society
I understand your concerns, and I took a lot of what you discussed into consideration before supporting the Fair Tax.
The Fair Tax is a tax we choose to pay. If you want a tax cut, you can have one.
If you don’t want to pay taxes, don’t buy a house, or a car, or a TV, or choose to buy them used. Its up to you to decide how much of our money the Government Gets.
To me, its about taking control of our government back.
The Fair tax would not change Social Security, Medicare, or unemployment insurance, I believe you are wrong there.
Thanks for your comments, I appreciate your point of view, even if we don’t agree!!