Monday, September 13, 2010

"FAIR TAX"???

There was a letter in Sunday's Tribune from David B. Patterson, IN-9 Director for Fair Tax, New Albany. The letter interested me because I was unsure of what the term fair tax actually meant.

Mr. Patterson questioned why Baron Hill would not admit that this tax would help save our Social Security system and reduce our debt. On the surface this proposal sounded intriguing. He went on to urge everyone to read the 133 pages of HR25.

However, Mr. Patterson left out an important part of this resolution. Since there would no longer be an income tax, the replacement would be a 23% sales tax. This tax would be levied on every purchase, even food. So a $1.00 loaf of bread would cost $1.23 and a $2.29 gallon of milk would cost $2.77. Now who do you think would be most hurt by this tax? A person making over $500,000 a year or a person making under $30,000 a year? Maybe the person with the higher salary would purchase more big ticket items (or maybe not) but the person on the lower end of the scale must purchase food, gasoline, cleaning products, etc.

If Baron Hill is hesitant to support this tax I don't blame him. And I am glad that he is not in support of such a rip off on the middle class and working class people.

Personally, to be fair, I think that no one making under $30,000 a year should have to pay any income tax. And the people making more would only pay tax on the amount over $30,000. That is what I call a fair tax.