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Issue Focus - by Mike Huckabee: The FairTax

mikehuckabee.com — Great short explanation of how to fix the tax code and make "Made in USA" more competitive at home and around the world.

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  • cschande, on 01/05/2008, -4/+23Here's a good article that provides some solid answers about the FairTax. Mike definitely knows what he's talking about!

    http://time-blog.com/curious_capitalist/2008/01/th ...
  • clown2008, on 01/05/2008, -3/+21FAIRTAX is a fantastic way to shine the light of day on the Tax system. Mike is 100% correct, and even if you disagree is Mike on one or more other issues, the FAIRTAX shold win you over to Mike, take time to understand it. We all know that open records laws are a very good thing as they bring transparency in government to the people. getting rid of lots of different taxes with different rules, and replacing them all with the FAIRTAX will not only decreases taxes for most law abiding citizens, (us normal tax payers), but also help the poor, and let everyone know how much each other is paying and what our government really costs us. Then decisions about reducing or increasing taxes, can be made with everyone included in the impact. A much more fair system, than the current system where special interests can hike a tax they do not pay, to get money for themselves.. (or lobby for a tax credit only for themselves, leaving the others to pay their share). Go FAIRTAX, shake up Washington.. wonder why the rich do not like Huckabee, real reason is the FAIRTAX, power to the people go FAIRTAX, go Huckabee!
  • jamestm1, on 01/05/2008, -3/+18Please join me in sending a message to Mike. Mike thank you for supporting the FairTax. You are really like us, you read the FairTax book, and realized that it is the most researched tax plan in history.

    If you are new to the FairTax, please visit www.fairtax.org for all the facts and details.

    Lets send a message to Mike, please use R2086 and donate any amount you are comfortable with, as every dollar counts!

    Or use the link below:

    https://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Contribut ...

    Mike Huckabee and FairTax for all.





  • V3n0M, on 01/05/2008, -17/+8There is No Such Thing as a Fair Tax
    http://www.mises.org/story/1975

    The Fair Tax Fraud
    http://www.mises.org/story/1814

    "The antidote to the fraud of the FairTax is a good dose of the wisdom of Murray Rothbard: "There can be no such thing as 'fairness in taxation.' Taxation is nothing but organized theft, and the concept of a 'fair tax' is therefore every bit as absurd as that of 'fair theft.'"
    • mngop, on 01/06/2008, -2/+8"If it came up, I'd vote for it" Ron Paul on the Fair Tax.
      • V3n0M, on 01/06/2008, -5/+3Sure, but why settle for 2nd choice when we still have an opportunity to cut foreign spending and eliminate taxes altogether.
        • MoniqueMoniCat, on 01/06/2008, -2/+5her name is hillary and his name is obama.

          ron paul can't even get the support of his own home state of texas, what makes you think he could possibly stand a chance against the dems?
          • V3n0M, on 01/06/2008, -4/+2I wasn't aware Texas had their primaries already. How did I miss that??
  • Room007, on 01/05/2008, -4/+14V3nom LOL don't be so sad about your candidate Ron Paul. Try being positive! The Fair Tax is fair enough for me and I for one am ready to try something different.
    • V3n0M, on 01/05/2008, -8/+6Who's talking about Ron Paul? This is a Mike Huckabee thread. Please try to keep up.
    • Minarchian, on 01/06/2008, -11/+4The Fair Tax is just going to give the IRS a new name. And you Know it Room007

      It will help to further erode the middleclasses. And you know that too Room007.

      It will not repeal the 16th Amendment and we could end up with both a tax on wages AND this sales tax, but you already know that too, Room007.

      With all you already know about this scam I am surprised you don't drop your support for it...except for the fact you know Huckabee is a liar and a Socialist posing as a Republican and yet you still support him....truly sad state of affairs for you.
  • chupavacas, on 01/05/2008, -15/+6The "Fair" Tax is a great way to plunge this country into a depression.
    • Jpao17, on 01/05/2008, -1/+11How so?
      • fpsbm, on 01/11/2008, -1/+2He won't answer because he don't know. He's clueless like most of the other RP supporters (notice I did not say all of them!).
  • Room007, on 01/05/2008, -3/+15chupavacas welcome another Ron Paul supporter are you dis-satisfied with your candidate too that you are here on Huck's Diggs. We welcome everyone. If you go to mikehuckabee.com you could learn why we all love him so much!
    Go Mike!
    • Spectre74, on 01/06/2008, -9/+3Why do Huckabee supporters always suggest HIS website? Out of the entire Internet, that's the only reference for you?
      • mngop, on 01/06/2008, -3/+9ok..go to my website! www.vetsformike.com any better? lol
        • txchica, on 01/06/2008, -3/+8You're too funny.
        • Spectre74, on 01/07/2008, -3/+3Thanks for validating my point. And a site with that name makes me want to vomit. I am a vet, and my father is a vet, and vets who support Huck are a living tragedy.
      • txchica, on 01/08/2008, -1/+3I'm a vet and support Huckabee and don't think of myself as a tragedy, but what really is one is a vet that supports not only Dr. Paul, but also Dennis Kucinich. Can you get any more extreme than those two?
        • Spectre74, on 01/08/2008, -3/+1I support Obama also, but don't care for the feedback. Guess I'll have to remove Paul and Kucinich as well. This is why people cant watch you vote at the ballot box. I support Kucinich (and a little Gravel) because they are part of our struggle for equal candidate opportunity. A large part of the great or revolutionary world events took place because of extreme views and extreme actions. Fighting illegal wars for years and years is what is extreme, sir.
          • Spectre74, on 01/08/2008, -3/+1Well, Obama's last preemptive war statements are not something I like, so perhaps I don't support him anymore.
          • txchica, on 01/09/2008, -0/+3Good luck finding that perfect candidate, but I have a feeling you're going to be disappointed with whom ever you choose.
          • Spectre74, on 01/09/2008, -3/+2Then I'll do what I have done for the last 10+ years. Not vote at all. My vote is for Paul at the moment.
    • teichenauer, on 01/07/2008, -1/+3chupavacas, if digg users were to leave discussion of Mike Huckabee to his partisans, that would make for a pretty dull social news forum, wouldn't it?
  • mrsals11, on 01/06/2008, -3/+15I love the fair tax! I'm tired of watching everyone stress out this time of year, trying to figure out their taxes, or spending money for someone to figure out the taxes. I'm also tired of hearing about people who don't pay anything into the system and get thousands back as a refund (how is that possible)? Let people keep their money and decide how to spend it! Go Mike Huckabee! Thanks for supporting such a smart plan.
    • teichenauer, on 01/07/2008, -2/+3Everybody hates the federal (and state) income tax. Why not repeal the federal income tax and replace it with nothing?

      "And a good place to begin is by reducing the federal government to just the functions authorized in the Constitution. If we do that, we can repeal the federal income tax and replace it with nothing." -- Harry Browne in On the Campaign Trail
  • treeinnj, on 01/06/2008, -2/+15Here's what I love about Huckabee's FairTax plan - American's get taxed on spending, not producing. Being productive & thrifty is a national trait - i.e. it's what our country was founded & grown on - let's stop taxing ourselves for doing just that! Let's start taxing ourselves for spending - which we should be doing less of anyway!
  • Nanellen, on 01/06/2008, -3/+13And I love the "prebate" feature of the Fair Tax plan. It will help households that are struggling to get an economic foothold as well as elderly who don't have pension plans but just their own savings to rely on. Since medicine and food is not taxed under the Fair Tax, these households get boost instead of "the boot". Go Mike!
  • scfairtax, on 01/06/2008, -3/+12The Fair Tax is FANTASTIC!!! This was the original issue that drew me to Mike Huckabee, and his stance on other issues have solidified things for me! Not only is the Fair Tax going to help American worker's and our Economy, but our country currently faces an Economic Crisis that will only get deeper if something Revolutionary does not happen. The Fair Tax is that Radical idea that can help save us from impending economic disasters that we face.
    • teichenauer, on 01/07/2008, -2/+2The primary disaster the American voter should work to neutralize is the US government occupation of Iraq/Afghanistan/South Korea and Japan. If US soldiers defended America we would be much, much closer to being able to eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with nothing.
      http://www.ronpaul2008.com/issues/debt-and-taxes/
      • fpsbm, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1Why do you think American soldiers are over there? They are there to protect our country! Now if we bring them home immediately like RP wants to do we can forget about everything because those terrorist will bring those nukes over here and wipe us off the face of the earth along with Israel.
  • maninblac1, on 01/06/2008, -5/+2No matter how many times people explain it, it just doesn't make sense to me.

    A person who's income is 45,000 will consume roughly the same as a person who's income is 50,000, the life style of the middle class is fairly uniform. Neither is below poverty, so how is the person who is making $50,000 not better off spending less of his percent income in taxes than the 45,000 earner?

    What no-one does explain is, what about the tax on raw materials, on the supplies to create this items we see at the stores. Does raw plastic purchases, or raw lumber purchases sucumb to the consumption tax, the companies that make items for us are consumers too, just not in the traditional sense. If they pay a 23% tax on their materials they consume, and we pay a 23% tax on things we consume, and why wouldn't corporations pass on that 23% extra sales expense on to us, other than the rebates, how is this any different than a flat tax???
    • uzzo2, on 01/06/2008, -1/+6legitimate businesses that are enrolled will NOT pay the sales tax on legitimate business expenditures, nor will they pay the 40% corporate income tax that the end consumer pays anyway in hidden taxes embedded in these companies products. thus making america the new "tax haven", companies that have moved overseas will be tripping over themselves to get their plants and businesses back to the USA. there will also be a huge swell of foreign companies that will want to move here as well. what does that mean? JOBS,JOBS,JOBS. i don't really understand your question about the 50K and 45K wage earner, all i can tell you is that i myself am in this tax bracket and i would come out much better under the fairtax because i am very frugal (not a big spender). both people would get the same prebate depending on family size, the only difference would be in their spending habits. you spend more you pay more taxes but the thing to remember here is that it is a CHOICE rather than the government hijacking 30% or more of your paycheck every week whether you like it or not.
      • maninblac1, on 01/06/2008, -3/+2If two people of the same composition, debts, consumption, family have different wages, but like wages, the person with the higher wage has an abolute advantage over the other. If i make 45K, and buy, save, and invest exactly as a 50K person does, the 50K person is better off than me in an absolute sense. That is the definition of a regressive tax, what ends up happening is that the regression is divided. Income blocks naturally fall through, since income levels dictate life and spending styles. Those who make 30-50K a year behave about the same in their fiscal nature. Those who make 55-80K a year are the same, and brackets continue on up.

        I see, i didn't know corpate expenses got excluded....interesting i'm not an economist, but alot of the benefits seem to be smoke and mirrors. It may indeed boost productivity, but from a logical point of view, a tax is a tax, either you penalize consumption, or you penalize production. Either way there is a penalty. What do people do if they see up front costs, they choose not to buy. A $200 gadget doesn't seem as good of a buy at $280, adding 23% tax. There is no garuntee the corporate entities would lower the prices, and if you say market forces will take care of that, only to a degree, sales taxes a regressive by nature, and the consumers will get taken along for the ride on this.
        The ipod is case and point, lots of supply, moderate demand, they cost $60 to make, but that doesn't stop them from charging $300 for it, market forces do not control price absolutely, corps win in the fair tax world i fear.
        • uzzo2, on 01/06/2008, -1/+5i'm not an economist either nor do i consider myself an expert on the fairtax, but i did stay at a holiday inn express last night(just kidding). the $200.00 gadget you mention should cost $246.00 after the tax if my math is correct, BUT that same $200.00 gadget right now costs you $244.00 due to the 22% "hidden" tax embedded in the product due to income and payroll taxes and costs of compliance. you'll pay $2.00 more for the same gadget but you're buying it with 100% of your paycheck. is that guaranteed? no, but it will be inevitable due to free market competition. one example of that is dvd recorders i remember when they first came out they were $400.00-$500.00. right after thanksgiving i bought a dvd/vhs recorder combo for $98.00 and it works great. i agree a tax is a tax none of it is good but i think that a consumption tax is much more fair than the income tax. under the original constitution we were not supposed to be taxed on what we made only on what we spent so taxes have been around ever since time and they will never go away. also, opponents of the fairtax like to claim that we could end up with a sales tax and a income tax. there is a 5 year window in the bill that's basically a trial period at the end of 5 years the government would have to decide which one to go with. my guess is that once people experience the freedom of keeping 100% of what they earn and not having to file income taxes anymore they will never want to go back to an income tax there would be a public uproar. my cpa is a former fraud examiner for the irs, she loves the fairtax idea and is a fairtax volunteer which seemed strange to me, i asked her wasn't that going to put her out of a job and she told me no way, i have plenty to do keeping books all year long, she hates doing income taxes she told me it's just a bunch of added stress trying to get it all done and filed on time. i suggest you go to the wesite www.fairtax.org and dig around. there is a wealth of info there also wouldn't be a bad idea to buy the book, i got a used one from amazon for less than $7.00 with shipping.
  • jeffiek, on 01/06/2008, -4/+3Clearly the "income tax" and the "fair tax" have different consequences. A different set of people will do better/worse under one system than the other. However, neither system solves the basic problem - spending.

    “Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” - P. J. O'Rourke

    The "fair tax" doesn't even begin to address government spending. Is the "fair tax" better? I have no clue, I just know that results won't be as simple as people think.

    Food won't be taxed? Define food. Don't think I jest. Different edible products are already classified as food/non-food under state tax codes.
    Medicine won't be taxed? Define medicine. Again, no jest. Are herbs medicine? Does St. John's Wart (Hypericum perforatum) for depression qualify?
    Only retail transactions? Define retail. Clearly a passenger car is retail, what about a taxi?

    How does it protect against a resurgence of the income tax? The 16th amendment will still be in place. What happens when there's a budget crunch? Of course it would just be a tax on those "rich people" who are somehow escaping their "fair share". Should that happen, the definition of who is subject to this "new tax" would gradually change and we would wind up with both an income tax AND the fair tax. Public opinion would probably keep this from happening for a decade or two, but times do change.

    Save on tax-compliance? Dubious. Business-to-business transaction would be tax-exempt, the paper work would still have to be done. Just a different form that's all.

    There does appear to be some positive, it might help with import/export.

    Thanks, I prefer to get the government to stop spending all that money on programs that are not Constitutionally authorized and have extremely dubious merit. Deep six the subsidies to business. I find that the "fair tax" simply treats the symptom and ignores the disease.

    • Nanellen, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3If taxes are inevitable - and they are - I would prefer a "transparent" tax system than the one we have now. That said, one of the biggest attractions of the Fair Tax is the un-taxing of businesses so that they won't have incentives to push jobs out of the country to compete with low-wage countries like China. I want manufacturing back in the U.S. The Fair Tax will allow companies to keep the work here.
      • jeffiek, on 01/06/2008, -2/+2"won't have incentives to push jobs"

        Again, addressing the symptom not the cause. The cause is HIGH spending. The money must come from somewhere. Reduce business tax and by definition you increase what individuals pay. After the dust settles, workers will still get about the same real wages meaning that business cost will not go down. It's an exercise in circular logic.

        Want jobs back in the US? CUT SPENDING.
        • MyKisa, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1America would become the investment capitol of capital.
  • blorc, on 01/06/2008, -4/+2How is Huckabee going to end the IRS if he's implementing another tax? You can call it something else if you want, but the IRS is still the IRS. People will still be unconstitutionally taxed on their income, and they will still be able to seize all your belongings if you don't pay.

    The Fair Tax is a sham. It's going to make rich people richer, and poor people more poor, except for people below the poverty line, of course. Those people won't be paying any taxes, but will be reaping the benefits of my tax through welfare programs that I'm forced to pay for because I happen to have earned my job and life.

    Sound real "fair" to me.

    I also like how the tax doesn't address spending whatsoever. I guess that's probably because Mr. Huckabee doesn't want you to know that he drastically increased spending in Arkansas when he was Governer.

    How conservative of him.
    • blorc, on 01/06/2008, -2/+2I apologize, I inaccurately described the Fair Tax. It's not an income tax. It's based on purchase of goods, so it's not unconstitutional; however, it doesn't change the rest of my post, and it doesn't change the fact that it's a tax we don't need. It would make a lot more sense to cut spending and replace it with nothing.

      Isn't Huckabee supposed to be a conservative? The only reason a tax like that exists is so the government can run around overseas "spreading democracy."
      • Nanellen, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3Go to FairTax.org and read about it. You can ask questions there. I just know I like it because of the pre-bate, because it's "transparent", it's simple - you don't need an accountant or a tax program to fill out your tax form, and the necessities of life are not taxed. It's a tax system for the 21st century instead of the 20th. Wasn't the income tax originally intended to be a short term solution for definite purpose? It's time to do away with the income tax and the IRS.
  • MoniqueMoniCat, on 01/06/2008, -1/+5The fair tax should've been implemented YEARS ago. Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, Alan Keyes all support it, and so do a lot of leading economists and those experts in the field.

    The IRS is a sham.
    • Nanellen, on 01/06/2008, -1/+3Even Britt Hume said the idea is "interesting". I thought he would be against it simply because Mike Huckabee is for it.
  • terrygsmith, on 01/06/2008, -0/+5The fair tax overall is so clearly superior to the income tax as to be a no-brainer. One item of concern I have is this - I have substantial post-tax savings. If no compensation is made for this, this money will be taxed twice (it's already been taxed, and will be taxed again when spent).
  • Chuckler, on 01/07/2008, -1/+3The Fair Tax issue is my primary deciding factor in casting my vote. I have been in support of Ron Paul but after determining that I do not think he has a chance, I am joining the Mike camp! What disturbs me is the deafening silence of the media on this issue. And it is loudly absent from the debates as well. Why is the (popular) media so silent on this issue? While they report on every sneeze and flick of the finger by Britney Spears, this important and major issue is in total blackout. I hate to believe in conspiracies, but....

    I am with you Mike!
    • clown2008, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1The FAIR Tax will completely shake up the Washington power structure, big business, and political interest groups are scared to death that us regular citizens may rise up sme day, and get such a radical proposal through. Many people/groups depend on their own little special tax "deal" that their elected official got them.. Not understanding that us reagular people, pay for all of them, and do not want to do so any more.. FAIR tax makes everyone pay, and that scares whole industries built around shelters and special treatement..
  • OHBuckeye08, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1I would encourage all honest answer seekers to check out FairTax.org It is a great resource that answers many common questions and concerns regarding the Fair Tax. If you don't find an answer to your question, you can ask the experts via email. The FairTax Calculator shows in black and white how you benefit under the FairTax.

    Neal Boortz co-authored a great little book explaining the FairTax. It is a quick read. I picked up one at Borders for $3. I am sure you could get a copy of it at your local library. America needs the FairTax. This is one of the reasons I support Gov. Mike Huckabee for president
  • MyKisa, on 01/11/2008, -0/+1Fair Tax would be the one tax law that congress could not use to buy our votes.
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