You want to plan a rally where you live but don't know where to begin? No worries, Hoosiers For Fair Taxation can help! It is important that Hoosier voices are heard at rallies in cities all over Indiana. Just drop us an email and we'll help you get started, answer questions, write press releases, send materials, and even send representatives to help. The tax crisis in Indiana affects all of us and we're here to educate all of Indiana's citizens about Fair Tax reform. Please put "I want to organize a rally" in the subject line.
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Want to Throw Fair Tax Rally Where You Live?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(Atom)
3 comments:
As I understand it, every citizen receives a prebate each month to offset the cost of the new tax in order to purchase the basic necessities.
The economists say it will work. Quite frankly, it is the only widely appealing plan on the table that protects the middle class. It certainly would not make the middle class worse off.
Also, the poor who already buy a lot of used goods, would not pay tax on used goods.
With 15,000 or so abandoned houses, I bet without a property tax OR sales tax on "used" property, it would make housing very affordable for the poor who get to keep their entire paychecks!
You said "citizen receives a prebate each month." That's true (provided they do the paperwork). Paperwork is minimized for rich college grads and the poor high school dropouts have to start doing paperwork to get back money they shouldn't have had to pay in taxes. It will work as long as poor people don't move around too much; but it seems as though there are requirements about documenting your place of residence. The tax proposal makes life much easier for the well to do and intrudes on the lives of the poor and lower middle class.
I teach in a school where 93% of the students have household incomes below the poverty line. Your statement about the poor buying used goods shows a stereotype in your mind. The truly poor have little money left after paying for rent, groceries, and utilities. The idea that there is no tax on a used Dodge Viper at $55K but there is a tax on a new Subaru Impreza at $19K seems unfair to me. Fairness is, after all, an unquantifiable impression - not a measurable truth.
I've heard that the fair tax would abolish income tax. I've not heard that HR25 would abolish the property tax I pay to my county government on my home. Document that for me (tell me where to find it in print).
You think landlords will charge less because property taxes go down? That sounds naïve.
My real point, though, is this... My wife and I both teach. We have six college degrees between the two of us and somewhere in the neighborhood of 11 years of full time graduate work between us. I make a small sum off of writing in addition to my teacher's salary. We have an adjusted gross income just under $90,000 a year. If we managed to put $8,000 in our IRA this year (saved it instead of spending it), our prebate would mean that we paid taxes on 69% of that $90K. If our doctor had an adjusted gross income of $425,000 in the same year and he managed to put $275,000 of that away and live off of a paltry $150,000, he and his wife (assuming they have no dependent children at home) would pay taxes on just over 30% of their income.
How is that fair...?!?
I'd heard some about the fair tax before. But your recent protests and publicity made me want to take a closer look at the ideas to see what all the fuss is about. I've looked around and bit and sorry, but I did not like what I saw.
Here's one the the more interesting articles I've read about it:
http://www.mises.org/story/1975
Debbie
Post a Comment