Guest Post by Patrick.......Death, Taxes and A Holiday

Death, Taxes, and a Holiday

Patrick Murray
Sane Political
Discourse


It's said that there are two things in life that are certain: Death and
taxes. Somehow I'm going to tie them altogether and make it make
sense. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure and insanity (despite
the name) of my blog, that's a bigger challenge than you'd imagine. But
with the $700 billion socialist sickness that I have kindly termed the Dastardly
Bastardly Bailout continuing to fester (and having trillions added), we're in
the process of making mistakes that will eventually cripple our company.

First, Principles First

The idea of the federal government taking taxpayer money to fix problems they
have caused with a myriad of idiotic programs and laws by bailing out companies
who messed up and didn't have sense to see the hole their benevolent Big Brother was digging for them should be anathema to anyone who possesses conservative convictions. We are
(supposed to be) a country that functions on free market principles and
individual responsibility. This means that when you succeed, you rake in
the dough. If you fail, you crash and burn. But since the days of
the Great Depression, the government has increasingly swept in as the
"protector" of people and companies. And the ways they have done this have
gone so far from the Founding Fathers' intent that we could power a city if we
hooked them up to generators. That's how fast they have to be spinning in
their graves.

Of that $700 billion flung out there by Congress, plenty has been happily
abused. But at this point, there's $350 billion still floating out there
uncommitted to specific companies. And to add insult (and the usual
Washington shuffle) to injury, the Bad Three automakers (AKA Oliver G, Oliver F, and Oliver C Twist) were back on the Hill, having spent a day driving their
hybrids up to make up for their private jet ride the first time (commercial
flights do go from Detroit to DC) just so they could stick their hands
out and ask for more (from $25 to $35 billion now). And there are some
lawbreakers... uh, lawmakers that want to tap some of the $350 billion left of
the DBB to do it.

"I Beg to Dream and Differ..."*

Enter Congressman
Louie Gohmert. He came up with a great idea to use up the rest of that
otherwise wasted money:

A TAX HOLIDAY!

Here's the deal. We pay about $160 billion a month in deductions from our
paychecks (Income and FICA). His idea is to take the money already
committed to waste on suckling a failing business and just eliminating
everyone's taxes for January and February.

Imagine the advantages:

1. $160 billion pumped into the economy for those two months-- Instant growth
and debt reduction across the board.

2. There's no administrative costs, because the money never gets to
Washington!

3. In March, taxes come back and people realize how much money Washington is
sucking from them. There's a good chance it will make the Boston Tea Party
look like an ice cream social in comparison.

Now, like government, taxes are a necessary evil, as the legitimate functions of
government do have to be financed. But the temporary elimination the theft
of cash from the weekly wage earner will prime people for a change....

Save the Economy, Abolish the IRS

The change I'm talking about is the FairTax. I'm going to cover it in
brief here, but when you are wondering whether it can work, check out the
site: http://http//www.fairtax.org/ (apologies for having to look at Huck-a-Duck, who's hawking his
book there right now).

I discovered the FairTax through my incessant need to devour hours of talk radio
(Neal Boortz in this case). I heard about it for several months before I
finally got around to the site. I spent a couple of hours reading, and was
converted enough to send them money from my tax refund (and money was tight at
that time). The FairTax (a consumption tax) is absolutely in line with
conservative principles of limiting government and empowering the
individual.

Some highlights:

No paycheck deductions - I start with this one because this feature is
what will sell it come March and people have to pay these. Essentially, if
you get paid $8/hour, you get that much on your check (except state, local, and
personal deductions, of course). And the employers don't have to pay the
matching crap. Which means they can pay more.

23% - This is the absolute maximum amount of your income that will go to the
tax. If you made $2000, spent $2000, and were an illegal alien
(undocumented worker for you PC whiners), you'd pay $460 in taxes. For
those of us with Social security numbers....

The Prebate - This is a check from the government that offsets any
FairTax paid up to the poverty line. So by personal choices, you can pay
no taxes, or a whole lot of taxes. The prebate is paid based on members of
your household. If you have 3, you get the prebate for each
individual.


One-time taxing - The tax only applies to consumer items once. This
means used items are not taxed. Related to this is....



No embedded taxes - Businesses do not pay taxes. They take the tax,
turn it into a cost, and make us pay that. The FairTax eliminates that,
putting all the taxes in one place. This means that prices adjust to
remove the embedded taxes and are only added back in on your receipt.

Transparency - You can look on your receipt and see the FairTax.
$23 of every $100 goes to the FairTax (which is the average amount we pay
now).

Emasculating Washington - While Congress will have the power to adjust the
FairTax, what they won't be able to do is adjust the system to reward some
people while punishing others, control behavior, and deceive the people who
can't afford the accountants to hide their money. The obscene tax code is
one of the greatest powers that they have over all of us. Not so under the
FairTax.

For further info (and clarification of my highlights), here's the FairTax FAQ.

Big Honkin' Finish

One of the first steps to making the government responsible and limited again is
to create transparency, both in spending and taxing. Until we can unify, we'll be caught between our personal benefit and
our principle, and the cluster that lives inside the Beltway will continue to
tentacle out like a demonic octo-pig, with a hand on every shoulder and a teat
in every pot. I believe something as simple and radical as the FairTax is
a first step. The tax holiday would help to accomplish that goal.
And it would be a better use of that thrice-damned** bailout than what our
"leaders" have come up with.

And remember, if we're loud enough, they might figure out that another stimulus
check is really not the answer.


(* bonus points for anyone that can name the song title, artist, and album I
snatched the above quote from)

(**double bonus points if you can get the TV show and character I get that
phrase from)