Re: Fair Tax
Fair tax. Total oxymoron.
Trying to make a tax that affects the destitute and affluent in the same way is impossible. The only way to keep taxes from affecting the poor at all is to abandon all pretext of making a tax applicable to everyone, and simply go about redistributing wealth in a forthright manner. Or, move towards a system of user fees for all governmental services. Yes, there will be plenty of folks that can't pay the user fees--but then just look at what happens when there's a tragic need made apparent in our country. After every tragedy, there is an outpouring of incredible amounts of private funds, from lower-bracket working class to the comparatively "rich". If people aren't spending 23% of their income on taxes, only a tiny proportion of which actually benefits those in poverty, they could choose how much they contribute to charitable organizations. Heck, more "work-fare" programs would probably appear, trying to help those who want to help themselves once they realize how lousy it really is to not have food or running water or electricity (which heretofore had been provided for free through welfare).
America used to be filled with associations and clubs which actually benefitted their communities--in my little town it was the "Women's Improvement Club". By the time I was in high school, the club was filled by grey-haired grandmothers, and my mom and one of her friends. They had planted trees along main street, held benefits for needy children, had a scholarship fund, and did a lot in our small town in decades past. But by the time I had the opportunity to attend a few meetings, it was clear that the community's need for the Women's Improvement Club was gone. Every function that the club had provided in the past was now filled by government or state agencies, and paid for by tax dollars. The only surviving organizations were the Elk's Club and a couple of others dominated by men--whose purposes were mostly to get together and drink.
I guess this is a long rant--I just had a rare opportunity to see a little of how things used to be, and wish that so many functions of our modern and bloated bureaucracy could be returned to the private sector, and reduce the astronomical need for excessive taxation. And now, back to your regularly-scheduled programming . . . .
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