A Fair Flat Tax

[Hondo69]

Any tax plan of any type imaginable will have its distractors.  We know this because decades of evidence show it to be true.  As we've seen in the past politicians and certain segments of our society will scream bloody murder no matter what style of proposal is floated.

Flat Tax - Fair Tax - VAT Tax - Consumption Tax - all are hot button ideas that push people's emotions straight through the roof.  So I have an idea that almost no one will like but seems to make the most logical sense.  Rather than proposing any new tax of any type and detailing its specific pro's and con's, bypass the nitpicking and unhinged debates on the details by asking one simple and straightforward question.

Should a new tax system treat all people equally?

[Sanguine]

@Bigun .

[InHeavenThereIsNoBeer]

Should a new tax system treat all people equally?

You mean, could a new tax system treat all people equally?

Maybe, but you'll never get people to agree on the definition of equal.  Some think everyone should pay the same amount.  Some think everyone should pay the same percentage on income/consumption.  Some even think our current "progressive" tax schedules don't tax the "rich" enough (their argument being that everyone is treated equally, because the same lopsided rules apply to anyone with the audacity to make money).

[Bigun]

I am not at home right now.  I will get back to you later.

[Sanguine]

I am not at home right now.  I will get back to you later.

I thought, as our current resident expert, you might comment.

[geronl]

A single flat rate that exempts the poor would be best (if we need an income tax at all)

The idea of the government sending 'prebates' to everyone is ridiculously stupid, unconservative and a bad precedent.

[INVAR]

I'm down for a flat tax if one must be imposed.

If the populace has to write a check every April 15th - the ridiculous spending of the Political caste will cease.

[Bigun]

Any tax plan of any type imaginable will have its distractors.  We know this because decades of evidence show it to be true.  As we've seen in the past politicians and certain segments of our society will scream bloody murder no matter what style of proposal is floated.

Flat Tax - Fair Tax - VAT Tax - Consumption Tax - all are hot button ideas that push people's emotions straight through the roof.  So I have an idea that almost no one will like but seems to make the most logical sense.  Rather than proposing any new tax of any type and detailing its specific pro's and con's, bypass the nitpicking and unhinged debates on the details by asking one simple and straightforward question.

Should a new tax system treat all people equally?

@Hondo69  @Sanguine

I favor the same kind of taxes our founders favored and for the same reasons!

You can read what they had to say about it in the following federalist papers:

http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/6510C4E451F9693985256E41006B75B6?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/A7EE0A7288ABFBB985256E41006CCA49?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2C22B2292BD58B6085256E430071389A?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2C22B2292BD58B6085256E430071389A?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2C22B2292BD58B6085256E430071389A?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2C22B2292BD58B6085256E430071389A?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/6187E5B4C05ADCC785256E4300728A94?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2818EF74AFC62C0285256E430072AF24?OpenDocument
http://www.taxhistory.org/thp/taxingfed.nsf/Papers/2818EF74AFC62C0285256E430072AF24?OpenDocument

They reached general agreement that taxes on articles of consumption only was the best and least intrusive way to tax and I am in complete agreement with that!

Here's why in a nutshell:

“The tax which each individual is bound to pay ought to be certain, and not arbitrary. The time of payment, the manner of payment, the quantity to be paid, ought all to be clear and plain to the contributor, and to every other person, so that the tax payer is not put in the power of the tax gatherer.”

Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, 1776

That kind of taxation can best be re-implemented by the Fairtax.

http://fairtax.org

[Hondo69]

They reached general agreement that taxes on articles of consumption only was the best and least intrusive way to tax and I am in complete agreement with that!

Thanks for posting those links - very helpful.

I know some will complain about a consumption tax.  They will say it is far from perfect, but the reality of the situation is there is no perfect system in existence.  Some are simply less perfect than others.  And as your quote from Adams Smith states, such a tax would eliminate the power of the tax gatherer.  In my opinion I'd call that a moral victory.  I understand many don't see it as a moral question as I do, but on the other hand if you tell people it would eliminate the IRS it would drive home an equally important point.  So it might be coming to the same conclusion, just from different points of view.

When a person goes to the store to buy an apple, that apple doesn't care if your rich or poor, black or white, or a left-handed Samoan transvestite.

[Bigun]

Thanks for posting those links - very helpful.

I know some will complain about a consumption tax.  They will say it is far from perfect, but the reality of the situation is there is no perfect system in existence.  Some are simply less perfect than others.  And as your quote from Adams Smith states, such a tax would eliminate the power of the tax gatherer.  In my opinion I'd call that a moral victory.  I understand many don't see it as a moral question as I do, but on the other hand if you tell people it would eliminate the IRS it would drive home an equally important point.  So it might be coming to the same conclusion, just from different points of view.

When a person goes to the store to buy an apple, that apple doesn't care if your rich or poor, black or white, or a left-handed Samoan transvestite.

@Hondo69

You are quite welcome! 

NOTHING man ever devises will be perfect!  The best we can ever hope for is that which most secures our liberty and that most decidedly is NOT the Marxist income tax system we currently suffer.