Friday, February 19, 2010


The truth: The FairTax actually eliminates and reimburses all federal taxes for those below the poverty line. This is accomplished through the universal prebate and by eliminating the highly regressive FICA payroll tax. Today, low and moderate income Americans pay far more in FICA taxes than income taxes. Those spending at twice the poverty level pay a FairTax of only 11.5 percent -- a rate much lower than the income and payroll tax burden they bear today. Meanwhile, the wealthy pay the 23 percent retail sales tax on their retail purchases.

Under the federal income tax, slow economic growth and recessions have a disproportionately adverse impact on lower-income families. Breadwinners in these families are more likely to lose their jobs, are less likely to have the resources to weather bad economic times, and are more in need of the initial employment opportunities that a dynamic, growing economy provides. Retaining the present tax system makes economic progress needlessly slow and frustrates attempts at upward mobility through hard work and savings, thus harming low-income taxpayers the most.

In contrast, the FairTax dramatically improves economic growth and wage rates for all, but especially for lower-income families and individuals. In addition to receiving the monthly FairTax prebate, these taxpayers are freed from regressive payroll taxes, the federal income tax, and the compliance burdens associated with each. They pay no more business taxes hidden in the price of goods and services, and used goods are tax free.

How can the FairTax generate lower net tax rates for everyone and still pay for the same real government expenditures? The answer is two-fold. Firstly, the tax base is dramatically widened by including consumer spending from the underground economy (estimated at $1.5 trillion annually), and by including illegal immigrants, those who escape their fair share today through loopholes and gimmicks. In addition, 40 million foreign tourists a year will become American taxpayers as consumers here. Secondly, not everyone's average net tax burden falls. For households whose major economic resource is accumulated wealth, the FairTax will deliver a net tax hike compared to the current system.

Consider, for example, your typical billionaire, of which America now has more than 400. These fortunate few are invested primarily in equities on which they pay taxes at a 15 percent rate, whether their income comes in the form of capital gains or dividends. In addition to having the income from their wealth taxed at a low rate, the principal of their wealth is completely untaxed either directly or indirectly. Assuming they and their heirs spend only the income earned on the wealth each year, the tax rate today is 15 percent. In contrast, under the FairTax, the effective tax rate is 23 percent. Hence, the very wealthy will pay more taxes when the FairTax is enacted. In a nutshell, those who spend more will pay more but low, moderate and middle income taxpayers will benefit from the greatest gains in reduced tax liabilities.

For more information on this topic, see Why the FairTax Will Work.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Headlines In the News

Local High School Dropouts Cut in Half

That should teach them!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Headlines In the News

Typhoon Rips Through Cemetary; Hundreds Dead

That's it for this series. Hope you enjoyed it!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Brown for President in 2012? No Joke, Supporters Say

He's only been a senator for a week but the drumbeat already has begun for Scott Brown to run for president in 2012.

He's only been a senator for a week but the drumbeat already has begun for Scott Brown to run for president in 2012.

After the Massachusetts Republican captured the seat previously held by Ted Kennedy in an upset election last month, ending the Democrats supermajority in the Senate, Brown's supporters have launched a Facebook page devoted to discussing a potential presidential bid.

They've also scooped up several "Scott Brown for President" domain names, including scottbrown2012.com, scottbrown2016.com and scottbrownforpresident.com -- a site that offers "Scott Brown for President" bumper stickers.

And a new Gallup poll ranks Brown fourth among 11 potential GOP presidential contenders who voters would like to see as the nominee.

"He is the fresh face, and he's new," Republican strategist and pollster Kellyanne Conway told Fox News. "The whole idea that you don't have enough experience, I think that went out the window with the age of the Obama presidency."

As crazy as it sounds, a Brown presidential bid in 2012 wouldn't look much different from Obama's in 2008. By then, Brown, a state senator for six years, would have been a U.S. senator for two years, with a possible memoir under his belt. A Brown spokeswoman said he will write a book about his life leading up to the special election, but it's not clear when the book would be published.

When Obama launched his improbable presidential campaign in 2007, he had been a U.S. senator for only two years following his seven-year career as a state senator in Illinois, and he had penned two books.

"Anybody who attacks Scott Brown as having a thin legislative record as a state senator in Massachusetts is going to sound foolish given the fact that's exactly what Obama had before he became president," Conway said.

But Conway said Brown has no chance to become the GOP nominee in 2012 and points to the media for creating the hype surrounding a Brown presidential bid.

Because members of the mainstream media came to the Brown party late and did not take him seriously as a Senate candidate, "they are now trying to play catch up with his legislative record and with Scott Brown the man ... and politician."

"It's also how some in the mainstream media likes to pick who they think the presidential timber vs. the presidential woodchips are and they like to say this person can make it because he has voted for some pro-choice measures," she added. "So they believe that will cause a schism within the Republican Party and the conservative movement. They'll say the Tea Party people are with Scott brown but the evangelical Christians will never support him."

~~~~~

I'll be watching Brown over the next couple of years to see what he does in the Senate and whether he really plans a run for the Oval Office sometime in the near future.

The facts show that he's pretty equal to Obama in legislative experience. Democrats and Liberals can't, with a straight face, say anything against his qualifications as they are so similar to Obama's, but I'm sure there will be a spin coming out sometime showing what a poor choice he'll be even before he makes any announcement, for or against, a run for the White House.

Of course, if the Mayan calendar is correct, whoever is elected in November 2012, will be the last one elected. I don't agree with it. I prefer to side with Sir Isaac Newton who postulated that the world will end, I believe, 2060, or maybe it's 2160.

No matter who is right, or wrong, about the end of the world, you have to agree that it's going to be an interesting Presidential election cycle leading up to November, 2012.
Headlines In the News

Red Tape Holds Up Bridges

and I thought it was duct tape and baling wire. Silly me!