Wednesday, September 15, 2010

the real problem with governments and taxes

There is a disconnect with payments and services. In essence, everyone tries to get as much out of the system while paying as little as possible. There is no relationship between what we pay and what we get, and income/payroll/investment taxes are a mess.

The solution is to tax consumption.

A 23% tax (minus deductions for any basic necessities like food, housing, and basic medical care) on everything we buy is a much better deal for all of us.

The FairTax (more at www.fairtax.org):

  • Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
  • Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
  • Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
  • Allows American products to compete fairly
  • Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
  • Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
  • Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
  • Abolishes the IRS
Tie this together with a balanced budget initiative and we'd be all set. Why wouldn't people want this more fair, honest, and patriotic system? Because they want to get more than they put in. They want to game the system to their favor.

I say let them buy Prada, eat McDonalds, and go to the track. I may not agree with those things, as they might not agree with my following Phish around the country. But we are equals subject to the same rules, know exactly how much we are paying for services, and will be forced to see how much.

Only by matching funding with consumption will we get out of this trap.