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View Full Version : Herman Cain Advisory Panel for Tax Reform: FairTax "Largest Entitlement Program in American History"




Ex Lux lucis
05-15-2011, 11:21 PM
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_tax#Monthly_tax_rebate


The President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform cited the rebate as one of their chief concerns when analyzing their national sales tax, stating that it would be the largest entitlement program in American history, and contending that it would "make most American families dependent on monthly checks from the federal government".[8][38] Estimated by the advisory panel at approximately $600 billion, "the Prebate program would cost more than all budgeted spending in 2006 on the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, and Interior combined."[8] Proponents point out that income tax deductions, tax preferences, loopholes, credits, etc. under the current system was estimated at $945 billion by the Joint Committee on Taxation.[35] They argue this is $456 billion more than the FairTax "entitlement" (tax refund) would spend to cover each person's tax expenses up to the poverty level. In addition, it was estimated for 2005 that the Internal Revenue Service was already sending out $270 billion in refund checks.[35]

FairTax is NOT a small government initiative. FairTax is the expansion of bureaucracy and government dependence.

Pseudolus
05-15-2011, 11:43 PM
Dude, that's stupid. It's a prebate against the taxes you will be paying, it's not an entitlement. And every person gets the prebate, it's not for a limited class of individuals.

Johncjackson
05-16-2011, 08:34 AM
I haven't read much about the Fair Tax in recent years. I remember when it was getting a lot of buzz, around 2004 or so ( I think). I read up a lot on it then. I don't know if the proposals have changed, but the prebate was supposed to eliminate a lot of existing bureaucracy, and the Fair Tax itself was supposed to greatly simplify things by eliminating all the other types of federal income taxes.

I'm not endorsing it or saying the best plan, but it seemed to offer a lot of improvements. I think calling the prebates an "entitlement" would be akin to calling income tax refunds an "entitlement." I think it would reduce entitlements when you consider refundable tax credits like the EITC, and make things a little more "fair," if far from ideal.