Comments on: Scientology's Fair Tax Plot

The New Republic: Plan Backed By Fred Thompson, Other Candidates, Has Roots With L. Ron Hubbard

[incog-nito]

People who still support the current mess of a tax code keep bashing the sales tax, yet do not put forth a coherent argument other than vaguely that the current system is progressive. Yet the very rich from Warren Buffett to Leona Hemsley will tell you that they pay less tax (proportionally) than "the little people".

[archangelric]

let''s see; in 1984 Geroge Orwell expounded upon the twisting of language to where things said mean the opposite of what they truly are. "fair tax" Hmmmm...

Could this be the worst of all possible worlds? A consumption based tax REPEATEDLY taxes EVERY STEP of production, from raw materials, built sub assemblies, built assemblies, final product. It taxes all purchases, by schools, government, etc. DUMB! In europe,they at least went to a "Value Added" tax, which taxes only that new value.

It taxes people at lower incomes a higher percent of income than higher income as they have a higher percent spent on daily living expenses; it does NOT tax "equity" income (stocks, bonds, interest, etc.)

You want a real fair tax? How about closing the existing income tax to a progressive rate NO DEDUCTION, NO EXCLUSION, NO EXEMPTION, NO EXCEPTION system with a simple postcard sized form: You made XXXXX dollars from ALL sources; your tax from table is YYYYY; your tax payment is XXXXX - YYYYY or rebate if less than zero. Build any exemptions you want into the rate; e.g. income 0 - 20,000 tax is 0; 20,000 - 35,000 rate is 10% of income; 35,000 - 60,000 rate is 15% of income; 60,000 - 100,000 rate is 20% of income; etc.

The real rates (%ages) would come down as all deductions are removed and we get out of special interest tax laws. That is the real fairness.

[elz523]

This "FAIR TAX" is the biggest smoke screen initiated by the rich, meant to eliminate their transfer payments and put more of the tax burden on the poor, since Haliburton and the other defense contractors gave us Iraq.

Fall for this BS middle class and see the difference in classes widen even more.

[jmklei0]

It doesn''t really matter who started the CATS organization, Scientologists or Jesus, or otherwise. Your information about the FairTax (which isn''t CATS) are completely untrue.

One to mention is your assessment of the monthly rebate. Not only will any organization not have to track anybody''s income, the rebate will be going to everyone that registers for it, not just the poor.

You clearly have not read your facts. What a complete disservice to the FairTax and your readers.

[jacksteen1]

Nice to see Basset-Faced Freddy Thompson pictured right next to Blubber-Lips Whack Hubbard, the master of pill-popping, booze-bingeing, and writing trash novels his acolyte David Miscavige has managed to turn into an empire approaching the net worth of, say, the Methodist Church in America.

PLEASE do some serious study of this infamously evil and murderous group of charlatans. They are NOT harmless and funny in their delusions; they represent a danger to youth and to the American way.

www.xenu.net

Tiny Tom Cruise and Vinnie Barbarino are with them to keep their respective secrets mum - and to spread the cult as far as they can with their ''celebrity''.

And mow trhe Republishit Party is borrowing material from their OT I class tech sessions ?

HAWWWWWWWWWWWWW !

[jacksteen1]

Nice to see Basset-Faced Freddy Thompson pictured right next to Blubber-Lips Whack Hubbard, the master of pill-popping, booze-bingeing, and writing trash novels his acolyte David Miscavige has managed to turn into an empire approaching the net worth of, say, the Methodist Church in America.

PLEASE do some serious study of this infamously evil and murderous group of charlatans. They are NOT harmless and funny in their delusions; they represent a danger to youth and to the American way.

www.xenu.net

Tiny Tom Cruise and Vinnie Barbarino are with them to keep their respective secrets mum - and to spread the cult as far as they can with their ''celebrity''.

And mow trhe Republishit Party is borrowing material from their OT I class tech sessions ?

HAWWWWWWWWWWWWW !

[jacksteen1]

Nice to see Basset-Faced Freddy Thompson pictured right next to Blubber-Lips Whack Hubbard, the master of pill-popping, booze-bingeing, and writing trash novels his acolyte David Miscavige has managed to turn into an empire approaching the net worth of, say, the Methodist Church in America.

PLEASE do some serious study of this infamously evil and murderous group of charlatans. They are NOT harmless and funny in their delusions; they represent a danger to youth and to the American way.

www.xenu.net

Tiny Tom Cruise and Vinnie Barbarino are with them to keep their respective secrets mum - and to spread the cult as far as they can with their ''celebrity''.

And mow trhe Republishit Party is borrowing material from their OT I class tech sessions ?

HAWWWWWWWWWWWWW !

[incog-nito]

People think the current insanely complicated and burdensome tax code is progressive. They''re wrong. It''s progressive when applied only to working people with EARNED INCOME. The truly rich, the INVESTOR class, make their money mainly through investments, not salary. That''s why a CEO earns only a couple hundred grands in salary, but gets TENS OF MILLIONS of dollars in stock options. Guess what, the capital gains tax is FLAT. The current system is broken. As long as you allow special deductions for special interests, which is just a form of social engineering, you will continue to have abuses and loopholes, and the system will continue to get more complex and burdensome.

[knyghtwolf]

Death to structured and organized religion, politicans, lawyers, Pharmaceutical companies, ALL the oil companies globally, and price gouging utility companies, may the fleas of ten thousand camels infect their crotches and armpits with stinging bites!!!!! Bring back Agrarian times and LIVE for a change!!!!! LOLOLOL The Spirit LOVES a good sense of humor, otherwise our lives would be perpetually boring.

[andor3]

Fair Tax is just a marketing ploy unconnected to any real tax reform--it''s part of the conservative "protect the wealthy" agenda. With about one minute of thought the whole idea can be dismissed. The government needs just as much money, so taxes don''t go down--it''s just who pays them. Not surprisingly, the rich folks like the "fair" tax because they would pay less and lower-income folks pay more.

[libsluvsuvs]

after reading this article from Bruce, I only have one simple message..

KIDS DONT SMOKE CRACK!

[sal_planet]

Bruce, Bruce, Bruce, you don%u2019t know the history of scientology tax policy %u2013 I do. You are incorrect that "[Citizens for an Alternative Tax System] had one very specific goal: the abolition of the Internal Revenue Service."

L. Ron Hubbard wrote (11/28/1980) President-Elect Reagan, advocating sales tax replace income tax as a means of rapidly handling inflation, based expertise gained when he "studied economics at Princeton decades ago". Such advice from the founder takes on a life of its own. A front group (such as CATS) drawing on the resources of scientology requires this close alignment with Hubbard advice.

CATS organizer Steve Hayes mentions a radio show (Merrill Matthews, NCPA, Dallas, 10/11/1995) where he was a guest with you, two years after scientology tax exemption. Steve recalls %u201CBruce never answered my question then or any of the other ten times I asked him and it really put him on his heels.%u201D Do you still harbor resentment? Scientology could help you with that%u2026

Scientology conspiracy theory is the IRS, Psychiatry and the ''mad dog'' press banded together to destroy their religion. Current leader David Miscavige has the IRS targeted, however psychiatry tops the Hubbard enemy list slated for %u201CDepopularizing%u2026to a point of total obliteration%u201D. You%u2019re missing the scientology perspective, Bruce; this planet is theirs. Emboldened by IRS capitulation, they are still somewhere in this mix. Look deeper, Bruce.

[clestes-2009]

Oh, this is really great. First we have the neocon religious right idiots dictating policy, which has been nothing but one long disaster. And now Fred Thompson, if elected, would be dicated by another religious idiot.

What this country needs is to get back to the basics ideas of the Founding Fathers. Stuff like: Seperation of church and state, freedom of speech, no spying on the people without a court order, no war without Congressional approval.

We have seriously lost our way beginning back with Reagan. This compassionate conservativism is all a bunch of nonsense to strip us of our civil rights and force unwanted or needed religion down our throats, not to mention bankrupt us with illegals wars!!!

Fred, I think your a fine actor, but you have no business in politics.

[dlafeve]

Mr. Bartlett,

Your knowledge of the Fairtax is obviously deficient. If you had spent as much time studying the proposal and reading the research and the bill as digging up ways to diminish this excellent piece of legislation. You would have discovered that there is no attempt at deception regarding the tax rate. It is indeed 23% tax inclusive (as income taxes are tax inclusive) and it is indeed 29.87% tax exclusive as a 25% tax inclusive income tax rate is really 33.33% tax exclusive income tax rate.

If you were familiar with FAIRTAX.ORG the extremely informative and NON-DECEPTIVE web site of Amercians for Fair Taxation''s website you would see that there is considerable explanation of the tax rate, exploring it''s inclusive and exclusive nature. When compared to an income it''s 23%, when compared to a sales tax it''s 30%, no deception just fact.

As to what the other opinions of what the rate should or would need to be why don''t you study the actual calculation of the rate, also available on the web site, not deception just facts. But of course you have to be interested in facts rather than obfuscation.

Doug LaFeve
Citizen and taxpayer, volunteer with AFFT and certainly not a Scientologist.

[manner6]

Am I mistaken or isn''t there a huge national sales tax in some European countries in addition to income tax? If so, why is there still income tax?

[cpaide]

Bruce Bartlett, your paranoia knows no bounds.

Posted by mikeLA6 at 12:29 PM : Sep 07, 2007


Ya, and his ignorance of tax law and policy is boundless also.

Hey, the concept of a broad-based national tax on consumption has been around since 1954. It''s called a VAT or Value-Added Tax. It is used in many countries throughout the world. It was proposed in Canada in 1989 as a National Sales Tax and was implemented in 1991 as a Goods and Services Tax (GST). The rate in Canada is 6 percent.

Note also that the state of Michigan has used the Single Business Tax (SBT) since 1975 (now repealed effective 12/31/2007, according to State Tax Central http://www.statetaxcentral.com/).

So it''s clear that the concept didn''t originate in 1993 with Xenu and the Church of Scientology.

True, a national SALES tax would only tax the end buyer, while the VAT, GST, SBT, etc. tax all transfers (wholesale and retail) based on the increase in value (good luck measuring that on intercompany sales). But who knows what form the FairTax legislation will take once our Zenu-influenced politicians start debating and voting.

[bwessels]

The "every household''s monthly income tracking agency" would be, basically, the IRS.

Fixing taxes is very simple. The IRS isn''t the problem; the Congress is. Every time they shoehorn in another special tax deal for "working families," or railroad workers, or whoever, it gets worse. Why are there "tax credits" as well as "deductions?" It''s like a shell game.

Here''s an idea: Set the standard deduction per person to 200% of the poverty rate, index increases to inflation, and tax everything else without deduction, credit, or other special deal. No votes in that, are there?

[random_radar]

The only fair tax is no tax. The power to tax is the power to destroy. Taxation is theft under the color of authority. Taxation is not the dues you pay in a free society--its the punishment you pay under a totalitarian society.

[ckcool192001]

Bruce, who paid you to print such lies and false statments on the FairTax, which by the way is copyrighted.

As stated by other comments here, The FairTax has been researched by INDEPENDENT researchers and found to be a very solid replacement for the current IRS system. This is versus your tax experts who yes would be out of a job since the FairTax is so easy to understand even a 5 year old could get it.

"For starters, the FairTax is deceptively calculated. When you think of a 23 percent sales tax, you think of paying an extra 23 cents on the dollar. That''s how every sales tax in the world works. The FairTax, on the other hand, doesn''t represent 23 percent of the pre-tax value of the item you bought, but the post-tax value of the item. So, under FairTax, you wouldn''t pay $1.23 for a $1 widget - but $1.30, since the 30-cent tax is 23 percent of $1.30. How straightforward! "

The above statement is a lie. You are quoting the Fairtax as an exclusive tax...the most common mistake. The Fairtax is actually an inclusive tax just as federal taxes on gasoline are. If you go to the store pick up an item that cost $1 you will pay $1, $0.23 of that $1 will be sent to the federal government.

I suggest getting your facts straight before realeasing an article so riddled with false statements.

[mikela6]

The scare tatics you use in the last 3 paragraphs are laughable:

1. "Increase in government spending" -- You don''t take into account the elimination of the current tax bburden all along the manufacturing process chain.

2. "...Tracking every household income..." -- Uh,I I beleive this system is already in place.

3. Those "..reputable tax experts..." have a bias because under such a simple plan, they would be out of a job.

4. As for "...massive tax evasion..." well that is already a problem, because under our current system it takes months or years to either find a law that has been broken or a loop hole that can be taken advantage of.

The plan is simple. Tax income is based upon the strength of our economy. If you make $10.00 an hour you take home $10.00 an hour not the current $6.75.