790 of 880 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beware of false reviews, August 2, 2005
This review is from: The FairTax Book (Hardcover)
It is obvious that Wealthy American and Rational Georgian did not actually read this book before the entered their review.
After reading this book, I am amazed at how simple the idea really is. Do away with payroll taxes and the price of the item you are buying will drop. The idea of embedded taxes that we are paying under the current system never even came to mind before. I, as the end user, have to pay the payroll tax cost of every vender that touches that item. That cost is a pretty significant part of the total cost of the product. Harvard studies are showing 21% and higher depending on the item.
On top of getting rid of the embedded tax, I end up getting more in my paycheck and I get a pre-bate for the cost of living. Where is the negative? I started to some research on line to find out and have yet to find any real negative. I found plenty of false propaganda from those that have not fully reviewed the plan, but no substantiated negative.
The book itself is well written and easy to understand. My hats off to both John Linder and Neal Boortz to taking a pretty complex subject and making it so easy to understand.
I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in the tax code and ideas on how we can change it.
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123 of 134 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Response to previously listed objections, August 3, 2005
This review is from: The FairTax Book (Hardcover)
The eight objections listed in a review by Edgar C Sparks can be easily shot down, one at a time, and with very little difficulty (logical thinking and comprehension of sarcasm is required to understand any of the following:)
1. Opens us up to electronic money and total tracking of our monetary positions.
What exactly is "electronic money"? Is "electronic money" worth the same as paper money? If it is, than I don't really give a damn. Oh, and you don't what the government tracking monetary positions (nor do I). So I guess you'd rather just keep on filling out those income tax returns, thereby helping the government do just that. Under the fair tax there is no reporting of income, accumulated wealth or assets, so what exactly are you talking about?
2. Puts us all, everyone, on the Welfare roles.
Ok, I assume you are speaking of the refund on taxes paid for the basic necessities of life. Do you express feelings of dissatification and complain bitterly everytime you receive an income tax refund? I guess now it is "welfare" for the government you give us back some of our own money. This is, by the way, a much simpler way of relieving the tax burden on basic necessities, for those who can afford it or not (thereby making it fair), than exempting specific items making way for corruption of the tax code by special interest groups (which is what we have now). So the next time the federal government sends you a "welfare check" after you pay too much income tax, go ahead and send it back.
3. Quotes the wrong tax rate. It is 30%, not 23% of purchases.
Do you quote your income taxes using the same formula? If so then someone in a 15% tax braket is actually paying 20%. I know you people like to quote certain taxes inclusively and others exclusively to suit your own purposes, but in the interests of fairness we should use the same formula. The inclusive rate is always less than if quoted exclusively. And how conveniently you forget about the imbedded taxes you are already paying. Man, I just realized I'm paying 8.2% FICA tax. Blast!
4. Opens us up to a Sales Tax ID so that the rich can be taxed more than the poor.
This goes against the entire plan. It would require a change in the law to mandate the retailer to charge certain people more or less tax at the checkout based on this "Sales Tax ID". And as we all know the rich are not taxed at any higher of a rate under our current system, right? So we replace FINs with SIDs (whoops, already taken), may we throw our representatives to the fire if THAT ever comes to pass (nevertheless it would be no worse than what we have now.)
5. The tax rate can be easily raised at any time by the Congress.
And the income tax can't be? Oh, it can, but it's just hidden amoungst tens of thousands of pages of tax code, and certain provisions only affect certain people, and since tax laws change every year no one notices anyway. But if the whole rate for everyone in the nation moves, people will notice, and there had better be a damn good reason for it.
6. There is no way to limit the maximum tax rate. The tax rate can be increased to 100% and the Welfare rate increased so that all people receive the same income.
And if the rate is 100% how can this lead to an redistributed equal income? Yes this could happen if the INCOME tax rate was 100%, but so the hell what if the SALES tax is 100%. Money not spent at the retail level would not be taxed. Such a tax would destroy retail sales, and create an immense underground black market. An politicians would be extremely hard pressed to give everyone an equal income when revenue plummets. (By the way, who would work if you received the same income no matter what you did?) You do understand the difference between an INCOME TAX and a SALES TAX, don't you? It appears not.
7. It is nothing more than a way-stop on the way to a totally Communistic society.
No, actually the exact opposite. Not adopting this and keeping the income tax is what is doing exactly what you fear. If fact your concerns from objection #6 are valid but completely misplaced. If you are truly concerned about objections #6 & 7, then you should be demanding the Congress institute this tax reform. This is a voluntary tax, as opposed to the money just being seized without a conscious choice by you. That is far from Communist.
8. It will lead to wage confiscation.
Did you even READ the book? What a truly asinine statement. The fair tax has nothing whatsoever to do with wages & income. It replaces all income, estate, Social Security and Medicare taxes. You keep 100% of your paycheck (aside from any State taxes), and this is "wage confiscation". What in the blue f#$% have you been smoking? Wage confiscation is what we have right now, sir. Wake up! You've listed three objection to the fair tax, that are far more applicable to the income tax.
As put by many here, "If you don't like it you clearly don't understand it". But more accurately, if you don't like it, you are either willfully ignorant, or incredibly stupid.
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81 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Step 1: Read Book. Step 2: Review Book, August 3, 2005
This review is from: The FairTax Book (Hardcover)
It is truly amazing how people critize this book without having any knowledge of the subject. They see the words "Neal Boortz", "Fair Tax" and immediately assume that this is some soak-the-poor, evil rich manipulation scheme.
READ THE BOOK FIRST! Every argument raised by critics on this site has been addressed, some from many different angles. One concept which MUST be understood and is clearly explained in the book: embedded taxes. For the critic "BushHater" (what a surprise), the concept if embedded taxes and how it affects the price of products is completely lost.
Maybe this example will help you, BushHater...let's say you grow peaches. A new President is elected who hates peaches and convinces congress to pass a 20% tax on all income derived from the production and sale of peaches. What do you think you would do, BH? Would you just say, "Thanks, government! Please take more of my money!" No...you would RAISE THE PRICE OF PEACHES to help cover the new tax burden with which you were saddled. You would also pay a tax advisor to find a way around paying that 20% increase in taxes -- more money out of your pocket. Do you get it yet? That is happening RIGHT NOW -- to the tune of 22% of what you purchase. Take away the income tax and that 22% is NOT NEEDED. And if you think the evil corporations will just pocket that extra money you know nothing about capitalism and competitive markets. Add back in the 23% sales tax and it is a wash. Oh, except that YOU get to keep ALL of your check, you get a monthly prebate check to cover the sales tax on essential products, you are not taxed on what you save, you do not pay SS or medicare taxes, etc.
It is a perfect system? No, there is no perfect tax system. But it is the best out there, it is VERY fair, and is sure beats the current system. Read the book. Understand the concept. See how concerns are addressed. Then, and only then, can you honestly review the topic.
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