New Review: The FairTax Book

The following is a brief excerpt from a review posted on PopandPolitics.com:

Have you ever had this conversation?

Person A: Hey, how much did you make this week from your job?

Person B: How much did I make, or how much did I take home?

You see, right there is the problem. As a law-abiding, tax-paying, hard-working society we seem to have contracted battered-wife syndrome when it comes to taxes. In what other series of circumstances would anyone put up with essentially being mugged on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis? When it comes to income tax we shrug and just hand over our money amidst a wave of resignation.

We should be angry about this (and many of us are), but what action can we take to change our regressive tax system?

Alas, there is salvation in the form of syndicated talk show host Neil Boortz's and Congressman John Linder’s co-authored work, “The FairTax Book: Saying Goodbye to the Income Tax and the IRS (Not the mention the Social Security tax, the Medicare tax, corporate income taxes, the death tax, the self-employment tax, the alternative minimum tax, the gift tax, capital gains taxes, tax audits, and some major headaches every April 15.)”

Basically the FairTax would be a consumption tax at a rate of 23% in lieu of all the above-mentioned federal taxes. The worker/investor would receive all of his or her earned income in their paycheck without any funds removed for any taxes. Under this system, if you bank every paycheck and never spend a dime of it, then you’ll never have to pay a federal tax. However, other than basic necessities such as food and clothing, most people do not manage to go through life not spending their hard-earned dough. As a result, all Americans would pay federal taxes through new consumer purchases that would carry a 23% sales tax, which would then be used to feed the federal coffers including Social Security and Medicare. (More)