The Fair Tax Defended

by Mary Lynn
When I read criticisms of the FairTax I seldom find any
that make any sense because what the FairTax does is free
us of the manipulation that the Congress devises on a daily
basis. Is freedom of so little value? Never mind, don't
answer. There are those among us who would choose slavery
every time it is offered.

The political class loves the income tax, because it funds
their campaigns, and when they leave office and become
lobbyists, it funds their lifestyle. Lobbyists spend
billions of dollars paying our elected officials to pick
winners and losers, and every time it is the citizen class
that loses. The tax code is now over 70,000 pages, and
even the President's cabinet can't, and I am being kind,
interpret the tax code well enough to properly pay their
taxes.

Even if we had to pay more with the FairTax, and the fact
is that the majority of taxpayers won't, we would no longer
have to spend hours justifying why we should be allowed to
keep any of the money we earn. No longer would we be
required to keep receipts, and employ accountants or tax
software to determine how much of our interest free loan
the government should return to us. This costs us over 300
billion dollars a year and returns nothing to our country's
productivity. It is a net drain on the economy. Curiously,
that number is similar to our yearly deficit pre-Obama.

The FairTax is an inclusive tax paid once at the retail level.
It is not a hidden tax, and taxpayers no longer have their
homes or liberty at risk. If you have ever seen the commercial
for tax lawyers that ends with the smiling couple saying,
"...and we got to keep our home!" you can realize just how
malignant the income tax is.

Another thing that the FairTax addresses that has to be taken
care of soon is Social Security. Right now there are three wage
earners to every Social Security recipient. That ratio is
changing in the wrong direction. The FairTax takes 8% of every
cent it collects to pay for its funding. It broadens the base
from which the tax is collected. Even the political class will
pay for Social Security. Oh! You didn't realize they don't pay
it now? Well they don't, and neither does Warren Buffett or any
person of wealth who lives off their investments.

The 50 million visitors to this country each year will also
support our retirement, not to mention illegal residents working
or not. On top of that, no legal citizen will pay taxes on
necessities. There will be no need for exemptions, and because
of this, this tax cannot be used to promote class warfare.

I have only touched on the tip of the benefits of the FairTax
in comparing it to our current system of taxation. I haven't
seen anything better on offer; and if your response is a flat
tax, that is how the income tax started in 1913. And the flat
tax does not address corporate taxes, estate taxes, and payroll
taxes, or the social engineering that robs us of our freedom.

If you are worried about your mortgage deduction, write
yourself a deduction of any size you want. You no longer need
a deduction from a tax you don't pay. When you pay your
mortgage you are paying with pretax dollars.

I could also mention that the FairTax will also bring
manufacturing and jobs back to the US. Our companies, that now
pay the second highest corporate tax in the world, would be
competitive on the world market. Then you have those dollar
denominated funds, stashed offshore to avoid our current tax
system, approximately $13 trillion that would flow back into
the country--the world's tax haven.

Why wouldn't anyone love the FairTax? Well I guess you could
ask those who loathe freedom, and then you have the political
class who want to be the slave masters. Without a whip they are
just a lot of hot air.

I don't love taxes, but if I have to choose, give me the FairTax.