I agree to a point.
They put Bush over the edge, the thing is Bush had the latino vote and Bush as well as the war in Iraq had a higher approval rating in 2004 than now. They also touted an emerging economy which has now been completely disproven.
McCain and Huck would both lose. When the Democrats get ahold of either canidate they can really expose them.
The Fair Tax sounds good in idea but it would probably create a giant black market of goods that would bypass the tax and get you cheaper electronics and such.
I've done extensive research on the Fair Tax and though I like Ron Paul's idea of NO TAX better, the Fair Tax would still work better than an income tax.
I wont go into every single facet but rather focus solely on your issue of compliance.
Yes, there would be an incentive to cheat and not report national consumption but the incentive to evade income taxes is greater than would be the incentive to evade the FairTax simply due to the fact that people pay a higher percentage in taxes under the current system than under a consumption tax that closes the Tax Gap and forces more people (including illegals and tourists) to contribute.
A waitress who fails to collect FairTax on tips is also, presumably, not paying income taxes on those tips under the current system. Hence, under the current system, she’s not disclosing part of national income, but she is also not disclosing part of national consumption. So the net difference is the same.
But there are other reasons why compliance, while an issue, would be less of an issue than the current system.
First, the vast majority of retail sales occur in major retail outlets, like WalMart which already use a system of tax payment and verification.
Second, we’ll have vastly fewer taxpaying entities (14 million businesses rather than more than 100 million people) on which to focus enforcement efforts.
Third, we’ll have hundreds of thousands of otherwise unemployed IRS agents, accountants, and tax attorneys to enlist to enforce a single tax.
Fourth, we can always compel firms to report, via 1099-type forms, their sales to other firms. This provides accountability where business help police themselves.
Fifth, the government can stipulate that all retail sellers provide buyers with a written receipt, regardless of whether the transaction is or is not in cash, specifying that the FairTax has been paid. Thus if sellers don’t mail in the taxes, there will be a paper trail of the evasion. Sellers who try to bribe buyers to forgo receipts and split the FairTax among themselves run the risk of having the buyer turn them in.
Will there be perfect. Of course not. But there are 10 million people each year that never pay taxes and those taxes are never collected (the Tax Gap). This is made up for by having everyone else pay more. It is much easier to track and assure compliance on businesses than it is on 100+ million individuals, many of which may be illegal.