man society is all messed up

^So true.  The US government is still a democracy.  If taxes are too high presidents, senators, and reps don\'t get re-elected.  That\'s how it works now.  Simple as that.

I think it\'s all a fear of the unknown.  Americans in general HATE change.  Most of us have the "if it ain\'t broke don\'t fix it" mindset when it comes structuring our system.  This attitude can actually be healthy, but also damaging in the long run (look at Microsoft).

The best part about fairtax is making what you actually earn.  It would be nice to see the full $3000 every paycheck vs. ~$2000, post income taxes.  Plus Americans in general don\'t know how to save properly.  This system would encourage investing, building up retirement accounts, IRA\'s, etc...

Assuming that the income tax goes away forever I see no real downside here.

Actually, it would be harder to abuse the Fair Tax. If it goes up from 23% to 43% you see it. But when someone changes something inside our current tax system, who the hell ever sees?

Just like they can now, the government can tax the hell out of us, but with a more straightforward system, it\'d be easier for us to see what\'s happening and make more informed choices at the ballot box.

Just like they can now, the government can tax the hell out of us, but with a more straightforward system, it\'d be easier for us to see what\'s happening and make more informed choices at the ballot box.

Probably the biggest reason we\'ll never see it.  Politicians love to hide tax increases.

[clips]

I remember when forbes was running for prez, that he was a big fan of this tax, even back then i liked it\'s concept, but his opponents at the time pointed out some flaws of it that i can\'t remember, but if it works the way it\'s supposed to, then i don\'t know why it hasn\'t been emplemented....well yeah for the reasons posted above, just sayin\' in general.

[Titan]

I\'ve heard of this flat tax rate...and i agree it does sound great, but i too agree with luckee that it\'ll probably end up being abused.

One thing i\'d like to comment on tho is that chart about the corporate tax,... imo they should keep it. Look at what happened during the bush years when that tax wasn\'t that high or applied at all to keep businesses in the u.s.,...jobs were still shipped overseas and these so-called intelligent u.s. businessmen still outsourced our manufacturing and other high tech IT jobs...look at just about anything in your home..it\'s either made in china or india or some other 4th world country. Nothing is made here anymore.

I say all that to say that the problem with america is that during that big boom of the 90\'s, alot of america has been sold to other countries just so the said businessman or women can get a quick cashout, and now you have a dilema where even college grads can\'t even find work along with experienced adults who are lining up at the unemployment office.

It all comes down to jobs...these idiots in big business don\'t understand that the more you outsource to other countries just so you can save and line their pockets with money, that is more americans without a job not being able to buy your product....all they care about is a quick cash out and they don\'t give a s**t about anybody else.

So all this talk of taxing structure and the healthcare argument at the moment is moot if there are no jobs for american citizens to pay for these projects...less people working means less money and taxes for the overall system. China and other upcoming 3rd world countries have the u.s. in a chokehold.

Yeah but they don\'t care because they\'re rich and there is a big self-centeredness in this country that I think is wrong. People only look out for themselves rather than others and only give a shit about how they can get ahead and make more money.

[clips]

Yeah but they don\'t care because they\'re rich and there is a big self-centeredness in this country that I think is wrong. People only look out for themselves rather than others and only give a shit about how they can get ahead and make more money.

And that will ultimately be the downfall of this country...greed.

And that will ultimately be the downfall of this world...greed.

fixed

Yeah but they don\'t care because they\'re rich and there is a big self-centeredness in this country that I think is wrong. People only look out for themselves rather than others and only give a shit about how they can get ahead and make more money.

Libertarian values in a nutshell.

Libertarian values in a nutshell.

What\'s wrong with individualism?  There\'s a lot of people who don\'t even get off their ass and are handed a welfare check every week.  Why should I be paying for that person?

fuck collectivism

[videoholic]

Fair tax while sounds interesting, wouldn\'t it pretty much wipe out tourism from abroad?  If I was planning a trip and I had 5 countries to chose frm, do you think I\'d go to the one that was going to charge me 20+% tax on everything I\'d buy?

[videoholic]

And that will ultimately be the downfall of this country...greed.

But it\'s also why this country succeeds with innovation.  So we\'re even.

Fair tax while sounds interesting, wouldn\'t it pretty much wipe out tourism from abroad?  If I was planning a trip and I had 5 countries to chose frm, do you think I\'d go to the one that was going to charge me 20+% tax on everything I\'d buy?

Nope it really wouldn\'t. Well unfortunately I don\'t have the luxury to just get up an go on a vacation. I have to plan out my trips. So If I new there was 20+% tax on a country i was to visit. I would just save a little more money to cover the extra cost and spend only what my budget allows.

There\'s the fact the corporations are taxed heavily already.  Relieving them of this would theoretically make the prices about the same.