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KBCraig wrote:Why does Boortz shout down and cut off every caller who points out that it is a net 30% sales tax, rather than a 23% "inclusive" tax?

Because normally those arguments are intended to fudge the numbers for comparison's sake. Normally the argument is that it's a 30% sales tax, which is more than what most people pay as a percentage for income tax. The problem is that you are comparing an exclusive 30% tax rate to an inclusive income tax rate. So the argument gets shut down simply in order to make sure we are comparing apples to apples and that Boortz doesn't inadvertently add to the misinformation campaign about his own idea.

And as far as control goes, if you only buy "essentials" then you don't pay any taxes. Period. So I can decide that I don't want to pay taxes, and I won't. The problem is that the government will never respond to people reducing their spending by government reducing spending. They will try to increase the tax rate, or the number of things that are taxable, so that the government can sustain their spending habits. People's incomes are far more stable than their spending, so income tax provides a more predictable revenue stream than does a sales tax. That is the very reason why the Fair Tax will never pass. Lawmakers will never vote away their own power to take away your money.

This idea has been around for a long time.

Mike Huckabee included it as part of his platform. Too bad we didn't nominate him.

It's a great idea, but has zero chance of actually becoming law. This is because it takes the power to raise money away from the Federal government. If I am in control of my own spending, then I am also in control of my tax spending. So when times are tough and I back off on my spending, then the gov't also is deprived of funds, and they cannot increase tax rates in order to make up for the shortage.

One other problem with it is that abolishing the IRS puts a ton of people out of work instantly.

Another problem is that a bunch of people who think the purpose of taxes is to punish the rich for being successful will never support it. You'd be surprised how many people hate the rich. Further an additional large number of people hate "powerful big businesses" and will not support anything that they think is "corporate welfare" aka reducing taxes "paid by corporations".

Yet another problem is that a bunch of other people don't understand the current tax system, don't realize that they don't pay any taxes right now, and will believe it when their favorite politicians tell them that the Fair Tax will cause them to have to pay more in taxes (which, for some people, may be true, depending on their spending choices).

And finally, most people are completely ignorant of economics, their own tax rate, deficit spending, who is their congressman, whether this is a democracy or a republic, where their tax money goes, whether they pay taxes, etc. So since most people can't comprehend the value of the Fair Tax, then most people will not support a change to the status quo.

All of the problems are political, except the IRS & accountant jobs cut which will impact our economy to some extent.