Thin Line

Huckabee is ONE ( [link] ) with the FairTax grassroots movement ( [link] ). While many - like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system - seek to demagog ( [link] ) the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community ( [link] ) continues to grow.

Renown economist Laurence Kotlikoff believes that failure to enact the FairTax - choosing instead to try to "flatten" what he deems to be a non-flattenable income tax system - will eventuate into an irrevocable economic meltdown ( [link] ) because of the hidden aspects of the current system that make political accountability impossible.

Romney's recent WEAK response to FairTax questioning on “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos ( [link] )” drew a sharp contrast between Huckabee and all other presidential front-runners who will not embrace it. Huckabee understands that what's wrong with the income tax can't be fixed with "a tap of the hammer, nor a twist of the screwdriver." That his opponents cling to the destructive Tax Code, the IRS, preserving political power of granting tax favors at continued cost to - and misery of - American families, invigorates his campaign's raison d'etre.

Of the FairTax, Huckabee asserts that it's...

• SIMPLE, easy to understand

• EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn't cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes

• FAIR, FLAT, and FAMILY FRIENDLY, loophole-free, and everyone pays their share

• LOW TAX RATE is achieved by broad base with no exclusions

• PREDICTABLE, doesn't change, so financial planning is possible

• UNINTRUSIVE, doesn't intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty

• VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise

• PRODUCTIVE, rewards - rather than penalizes - work and productivity

A detailed benefits analysis of the plan (from The FairTax Book) explains Huckabee's ardent advocacy:

For INDIVIDUALS:

• No more tax on income - make as much as you wish

• You receive your full paycheck - no more deductions

• You pay the tax when you buy "at retail" - not "used"

• No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)

• Reduction of "pre-FairTaxed" retail prices (due to reduced costs, increased competition)

• 29.9% mark-up yields 23% FairTax portion of prices

• Over the first year, "market-adjusted" FairTax prices comparable to current

• Every household receives a monthly check, or "prebate"

• "Prebate" is "advance tax payback" on poverty-level consumption

• FairTax's "prebate" ensures progressivity, poverty protection

• Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS

• Elimination of "parasitic" Income Tax industry

• NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals

• Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax

• Households have more disposable income to purchase goods

• Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates

For BUSINESSES:

• Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax

• Business compensated for collecting tax at "cash register"

• No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls

• No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices

• Reduced costs. Competition - not tax policy - drives prices

• Off-shore "tax haven" headquarters can now return to U.S

• No more "favors" from politicians at expense of taxpayers

• Resources go to R&D and study of competition - not taxes

• Global "free (and equitable) trade" becomes possible for currently-disadvanted ( [link] ) U.S. exports

• US exports increase their share of foreign markets

For THE COUNTRY:

• 7% - 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax

• Jobs return to the U.S.

• Foreign corporations "set up shop" in the U.S.

• Tax system trends are corrected to "enlarge the pie"

• Larger economic "pie," means thinner tax rate "slices"

• Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as "pie" increases

• No more "closed door" tax deals by politicians and business

• FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow

meaning that it taxes all levels of income at the same rate. The poor man may not buy an SUV, but when he buys a gallon of milk he'll pay the same price as a millionaire. He just won't be able to afford it as well.

The tax system and your paycheck would be easier to understand, true, but that would be offset by the difficulty in understanding how much a gallon of milk costs.

Finally, I think it's absurd that only new (not used) items would be taxed. What a great way to jump start the economy... and good luck making it happen.

FairTax is feel-good campaign science fiction and Huckabee might as well be promising jet packs. The economy and taxes are complicated and the current tax laws reflect that. There are no simple solutions and there never will be.

doesn't sound very attractive from the producer's standpoint.

Scenario 3: producer of new items can't compete with the market for used items, can't afford to shift his facility into production of different items, goes out of business and lays off all of his employees.

Supposedly he's a sociopath: [link]

That very word makes me shudder.