[ale] OT: fair tax

[Brian J. Dowd]

Per the moderator's request to "Knock this (discussion) off":
Perhaps we should rename this organization as "Atlanta Political 
Enthusiasts. Org"
AKA ... "APE.org"
> On Sat, Mar 17, 2007 at 12:15:00PM -0400, Matt Kubilus wrote:
>   
>>> Determining what the "necessities of life" are and how much they cost is up to
>>> the politicians, hopefully with input from the Census bureau and various industries.
>>>
>>>
>>>       
>> Shudders.  They are so good at determining a liveable minimum wage,
>> I'm sure they'll be great with keeping up with the cost of, and
>> determining the nature of, the 'necessities of life'.
>>     
>
> Probably not.
>
>   
>> You cannot give an impoverished family one big check at the begining
>> of the year.  This is the biggest problem I see with 'fair'tax scheme.
>>     
>
> According to the sites I've seen, the prebate will be issued monthly,
> not yearly.
>
>   
>>  What do you choose: shoes for jimmy (the bubble gum holding them
>> together ain't working so well), bread for dinner, or oh crap Lisa
>> just broke her arm and you ain't got insurance.  What do you choose,
>> which one do you fix, how do you plan for a year of crisis when your
>> budget is on a knife's edge?  And that's for the honest working below
>> poverty family, I don't expect many here to relate to this, but exists
>> in large numbers in our country.
>>
>> What about the darker side of poverty, I gaurantee that you will see a
>> huge spike in  drug use and crime at about the same time every year
>> with this plan.   'Hey joe homeless who get run out of the mental
>> institue, here's a big check, have fun!!!'
>>     
>
> I guess the issue will be a bit smaller having it issued monthly.
>
>   
>> The prebate check is irresponsible.  Increase the liveable minimum
>> wage, 0 taxes on food, and you might actual get me to agree on some
>> fair-tax points.
>>     
>
> No arguments on minimum wage. I still see issues with food being singled
> out. Should filet mignon, lobster and cavier (classic luxury foods) really
> be tax free? What about shelter and clothing?
>
> For it to work, exempted items needs to be minimized. So I'm all for
> taxing food, clothing, and shelter along with other goods and services
> and refunding (prefunding?) the presumed tax on basic necessities.
>
> BAJ
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