Fair Tax

Having recently completed my yearly ritual visit to my tax accountant with my big bundle of paperwork I’ve been thinking about tax options. A good friend of mine keeps telling me about the Fair Tax – actually it was her mantra as I was helping her complete her on-line taxes last week. So, I’ve been taking a look at it and I like what I see.

What are some of the advantages? Well, for one I wouldn’t have to spend so much time preparing my paperwork, going to a tax accountant, and paying him a lot of money just to do my taxes. How much work is it to do your taxes? Think about it. Then there are all the tax loopholes that big corporations crawl through to avoid paying taxes. Check out this article and this other one.

But what is the Fair Tax? Well, instead of a Federal Income Tax, there would be a national retail sales tax. Ugh you say, but wait, there will also be a monthly prebate sent to everyone to ensure no American pays federal taxes on incomes up to the poverty level. The amount will vary, but a single person could get as much as $190 a month. Wikipedia has a very informative article.

There is a lot out on the Internet both pro and con about the Fair Tax, so I'm not going to fill up this page with links. Personally, I doubt if our present system will change (that's the pessimist in me talking). However, this is the best alternative I’ve seen so far. It would be fair to everyone and raise the same amount of revenue for the federal government.

Something to think about.