We are so used to having our federal income tax, social security
and medicare taxes withheld from our paycheck, most of us don't
realize there are efforts to change this dramatically. There
is a group going around saying that we should pay 23 cents on
every dollar we spend in a federal sales tax. They must be
crazy!
Wait a minute. If we are going to pay a sales tax to cover our
income and social security tax, we won't have anything except
our state and local taxes coming out of our pay. Even that
doesn't add up to 23%. What are they talking about?
What if they told you that, not only would you not have federal
and social security taxes withheld from your paycheck, you would
see the following things happen:
~Elimination of the Internal Revenue Service, saving an estimated
$420 billion annually
~April 15th would be just another day
~You would not have tax records to keep BECAUSE YOU WOULD NOT
HAVE TO FILE INCOME TAXES
~And, no forms, no deadlines, no prepayments, no penalties, no
audits, and never again an abusive IRS that can claim your
assets without due process!
~Even illegal income would be taxed when it is spent
~Only new items will be taxed
~No American will pay taxes on necessities
~Cost of goods and service are estimated to decrease by 20% to
30% because manufactures and other companies will not be
required to pay taxes (TAXES WILL ONLY BE PAID ON NEW
MERCHANDISE AT THE RETAIL LEVEL)
~No tax on ANY investments
~Each taxpayer will receive a rebate equal to the taxes paid
on necessities such as groceries and medicine, in advance of
those purchases
~Seniors and low income families would be protected
This list could go on and on about the advantages of a National
Sales Tax. The truth is that our current system of taxation is
totally out of control. The 10s of thousands of pages of tax
laws have even the best tax minds confused.
Yes, 23% does seem like a lot of sales tax to pay in addition
to any state sales tax you might have. You could wind up paying
30% on a car purchase of $20,000. Lets look at some of the
possible savings with a sales tax.
Sales tax on car purchase - $6000
Final Cost of Car - $26000
Cost of car might be reduced 20% because the manufacturer
doesn't pay any taxes under this plan. What is the cost of
the car? $16000
Sales tax on car purchase - $4800
Final cost of Car - $20, 800
But Wait Again! You will be buying this car using your entire
paycheck. NO DEDUCTIONS. That's hard to calculate. I can
almost guarantee it will be below the initial $20000 price tag.
Besides, $20,800 is only 4% above the price of the car, far less
than most state's sales tax.
If you don't think companies will reduce their prices even
though they aren't paying taxes, just imagine an entire nation
knowing they are manufacturing their goods 20% to 30% cheaper
and not passing that savings on to them. In addition, sooner
or later one of their competitors will reduce their price, and
the war is on.
To find out more about the National Sales Tax just visit
Americans for Fair Taxation at http://fairtax.org/ Take your
time to browse the site. You will find answer to almost every
question you might have.
About the Author
Terry Rigg is the author of Living Within Your Means - The Easy
Way http://www.homemoneyhelp.com/ebookadpage.html and editor
of The FREE Budget Stretcher Newsletter and Budget Stretcher
web site http://www.homemoneyhelp.com. He has 25 years of
experience counseling individuals and families concerning their
personal finances.