The FAIRtax Rate,
Its Their Problem Not Ours
Its Their Problem Not Ours
When you explain The FAIRtax to people, in almost every case, people like what they hear and are eager to support The FAIRtax.
Then they ask what is the rate. We answer it’s a 23% inclusive rate and 30% exclusive rate; the way state sales taxes are traditionally charged. Upon hearing, the person we’re talking to often looks shocked and makes comments like:
- “That's too high”
- “Why does it have to be so high?”
- “At this rate, I won’t be able to buy food for my family”
- “If the rate was 15%, it would make sense”
The sticker shock often remains even after you answer:
- “The rate is what it will take to generate the same amount of money for the government as the income/payroll tax system”
- “You are already paying a sales tax because you can only make purchases with the money you have left over after paying your federal income/payroll taxes”
- “The prebate lets you spend up to the poverty level without paying any FAIRtax”
- “Since the tax base is wider under The FAIRtax, the great majority of people will pay less FAIRtax than they’re currently paying in income/payroll tax”
Fortunately, not everyone is scared away by what they initially perceive as an exorbitant rate, but many are. All of us have experienced a negative reaction when we have to give someone some bad news. The normal human reaction to receiving bad news is to “shoot the messenger”.
The truth is no thinking person wants to pay a 30% tax on all retail purchases of new goods and services. Now, do FAIRtax supporters really want to add to the financial burdens now facing almost all Americans?
Absolutely not! It’s vitally important we emphatically state:
THE ONLY REASON FOR THE 30% RATE IS, IT’S THE AMOUNT CONGRESS HAS FORCED ON US IF THE FAIRtax IS GOING TO BE REVENUE NEUTRAL.
Is Ignorance Really Bliss?
How did Congress pile more and more spending onto more and more debt?
As with most problems, it’s almost always done one small step at a time. The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. have followed the examples of so many rulers throughout history who have transformed thriving countries into societies where almost everyone, except the government leaders and their friends, are struggling to survive.
They know if they want to infringe mightily on people’s liberty or confiscate their property, they had better have a really good reason to justify it, like protecting against COVID-19 or prosecuting a world war. Even then, people will only tolerate these infringements and confiscations if they believe they are “temporary”.
However, for most of the last 70 years The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. haven’t had a national emergency they could use. So, they’ve had to accomplish their massive confiscation of our wealth by hiding the amount of federal taxes they forcibly take from us.
Their theory is if you do it gradually enough, no one will realize what is actually happening to them. In other words, if you treat the people the same way you boil frogs, place them in cool water and slowly increase the heat, they will almost always docilely accept what’s being done to them until it’s too late.
The Ruling Class and their Minions have been very clever. They know almost no one would tolerate the full amount they are really paying in income/payroll taxes if they could see it.
So, they hide a significant portion of it by taxing corporations and businesses. They’re betting people won’t realize those businesses pass tax liability and all the compliance costs which come with it right along to their customers. It’s the customers who buy the products and services these businesses produce who are really paying those corporate taxes.
Of course, this doesn’t show up on a tax return, and this is just what The Ruling Class wants. They want people to believe their tax returns show all the Federal taxes they pay, when in fact, those numbers aren’t even close.
The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. have an incredibly demeaning and patronizing opinion of the American people. They don’t believe it’s important the American citizens have the financial data they would demand for their own budget decisions.
They believe we are like the person driving down the freeway who hears a strange sound coming from his car’s engine. That driver has 2 choices. Either pull over at the next exit and get it checked out, or hide the noise by turning up the radio. The Ruling Class is betting most people will choose the second option and continue merrily along, blissfully unaware there could be a serious problem developing.
This disdainful attitude on the part of The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. should offend every American. Each family trying to make their money last for the month knows they need some basic information:
- How much money do we have remaining after taxes?
- How much do we pay for living expenses?
- How much do we have left?
- How much does something we want or need cost?
If we need something but can’t afford it, then unless it is a real emergency, we don’t buy it. We know if we go into more debt than we can pay off, we will end up bankrupt. That’s not a complex concept. It’s really very simple.
Conclusion
In one of the Lincoln-Douglas debates in 1858, Abraham Lincoln stated, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time”. Of course, Lincoln was assuming the people had actual information.
If even the most accomplished mathematician using a very sophisticated computer was asked to calculate the exact amount he was paying in federal income/payroll taxes and he couldn’t do it. Yes, he could look at the amount shown on his federal tax return, but it didn’t include all of the embedded taxes and compliance costs added to the prices of the goods and services he purchased.
Those numbers are just not available anywhere.
However, none of us will have any trouble calculating what The FAIRtax will cost. All we have to do is know, the prices of all of the goods and services we are going to purchase will be increased by 30%. Very simple.
Under The FAIRtax, the actual product prices for new goods and services will likely decrease significantly because manufacturers and suppliers will no longer have to add the costs of the income/payroll tax system to those prices.
However, the analysis is still the same. Take the prices of the new goods and services we purchase and multiply the total by 30%.
When enough people realize they have been misled, it will create the uproar The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. secretly fear. We can only hope so.
It’s time to recognize we are the real masters of our own fate. We don’t need The Ruling Class and their Minions in D.C. telling us what to do. We are only asking if America is still a Republic, then we are given all of the information we need to make sound financial decisions.
If you are ready to take a very significant step toward wresting control of your government back from a small group of corrupt people to make it possible for all of us to prosper, Go to our Homepage NOW, sign up to "Get-Updates", join with us to TAKE BACK CONTROL!
Demand Congress to pass The FAIRtax—the only “Fair tax”!
The author George Bernard Shaw said these words in a play he wrote, You see things; and you say “Why?” But I dream things that never were; and I say “Why not?”
Isn’t it time for us to ask, “Why not?”
President Trump, “Embrace The FAIRtax, the only real tax reform! Stand up to the Swamp. They will oppose you anyway because they see you as a threat. What have you got to lose?”
The truth is the truth! Remember, if we don't continue to tell the truth and demand a change, then George Orwell's "1984" quote may foretell our children's future: “If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face, forever"
Thank you for staying FAIRtax strong!
Yours In Liberty! Yours In Freedom!
Steve Hayes
Chairman, Americans For Fair Taxation
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