April 27, 2015
Monday PM

The writer of the April 20th letter "RE: Tax Time" merely strings together a bunch of unsubstantiated figures that apparently prove that FAIRtax® "is a fraud". At the end of his letter, he suggests a 10% tithe, which on the surface seems like a reasonable concept: a 10% flat-tax of all income, with no deductions, no credits, no exemptions. But will that concept work?

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has projected the federal budget for 2016 to be $3.9 trillion. That is contingent on tax revenues of $3.2 trillion. But, when one considers the REAL unemployment rate of 10.9% as of March, 2015, and the millions of good-paying jobs that were lost in the recent recession, it's unlikely that a 10% tithe can generate the necessary level of tax-revenue.

And, since the CBO has projected the federal budget-deficit in 2016 to be $-455 billion, if a Democrat is elected president in 2016, that deficit will increase since spending is very likely to grow ... and the two viable ways to keep the deficit in check are to limit spending - which is not very likely - or too generate additional tax revenue ... increase taxes, that is.

The 10% tithe also penalizes those at or below the poverty level - the legitimately poor. A family of four (two adults, two children) with a household income of $24,000 will be forced to pay $2,400 in tax. That's a whole lot of milk, eggs and school supplies. With a FAIRtax, however, that isn't allowed to happen. Even the convoluted IRS tax system - the system FAIRtax will replace - provides credits to the poor that zero-out any tax they may owe. Protecting the legitimately poor is the American way; it's the right thing to do.

With a 10% tithe, however, the ILLEGITIMATELY "poor" will keep right on scamming the system just as they currently do - along with the other members of the Underground Economy (criminals, off-the-bookers, etc.) - to the tune of half-a-trillion dollars ... that we taxpayers must absorb. That won't be the case with a FAIRtax.

The list of FAIRtax benefits over a flat tax (10%, 15%, 17%, or whatever) goes on and on. Please visit FairTax.org to learn about the benefits.

Bottom-line: The 10% tithe turns out NOT to be a very workable concept.

Joe O'Hara
E-mail: Heaven.On.Eleven@gmail.com
Ocala, Florida

Received April 25, 2015 - Published April 27, 2015

RE: Tax Time By Stephen C. Eldridge

 

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