As one may expect, any book by an author with the surname "Boortz" is suspect. The last time I saw that, it was Mark Bortz, the Pro-Bowl offensive lineman, spelled with one "O". While that Bortz opened holes for Walter Payton (Sweetness, the Best Running Back of All Time. Period) This one shills for bull shit causes, such as a euphemism called the "Fair Tax".
Well, the Fair Tax is this: a straight 22% tax on everything you buy. This would replace the Income Tax, Social Security tax and Medicare Tax. Not only is this pie-in-the-sky BS, it is also dangerous. Think of the following:
1. The authors use "conservative" and "liberal" to describe Republicans and Democrats in the early 1900s. If you Freeze Dried Teddy Roosevelt (BULLY!) and dropped him (or 300 lb Taft, for that matter) in the present day, he would come up as more left than Nancy Pelosi, the great Right Wing Bogeywoman. Except that Taft and Roosevelt were not in bed with Big Business like Pelosi is. Most Liberals these days would shit the proverbial brick if confronted with a real Progressive. The authors here commit the sin of Presentism, forcing their narrow understandings on past political figures. What do you expect from a "talk show host"? What do you expect from "Limousine Liberals"?
2. From this, they claim that the poor would not be penalized under this arrangement. On page 113, they point out that there are three arenas from which opposition to their great idea will come:
a.a tax on consumption will lead to a black market
b.transition costs (never enumerated) would be unbearable
c.FairTax is "regressive" and will hurt the poor.
The authors mentally masturbate to answer the first two charges and sidestep the third. This is simply Steve Forbes' (once called a "toothy flake" by Pat Robertson) Flat Tax. Of COURSE the fucking tax is regressive. Using anecdotal evidence and selections from the Cato Institute, the authors sound like they know what they are talking about. Do you honestly think that corporations will voluntarily lower prices because their tax burdens are low?
3. They will not because of the bull shit argument that the authors make. Corporations are owned by shareholders, which the authors are nice enough to point out bear the tax burden for the rest of us. As Bender said, "B-O-O-H-O-O". Will corporations not try to increase profits to benefit the same shareholders? Of course they will. These guys are the usual right wing bull shit artists, where individuals are king and corporations are your friend. Tell that to people in the Gulf who are fighting with BP right now. These fuckers care little about individuals and care only about cash. I can appreciate that but I do not like it.
4. The authors claim "Only Individuals create wealth" (34). It is the height of naivete to think that businesses of any stripe will not take steps to maximize profits.According to the US Supreme Court, corporations are individuals. According to Ambrose Bierce, a corporation exists to "relieve the individual of responsibility". Look at the BP oil spill; who is to blame? Or the explosion of a pipeline in San Bruno, CA last year. The company demands that the taxpayers foot some of the bill. And we will, even though it is not our fault. The authors of this text believe that corporate interest and individuals will act for the good of the whole.
This is a fundamental misreading of Adam Smith. Human beings are selfish and we will act for our own benefit. On the whole, we could not give two rats asses about the state of the country. We will look for ourselves. Of course, the authors of this text tip their hand on page 1 by saying that "of the 10 things that Marx (BOO!) wanted, #2 is the graduated income tax." Of course, #10 is free public education, the same system these jack asses have done their level best to destroy.
If you want to take the US back to the 1890s, this is the book for you. But, for your own good, read a few books about the 1890s and 1880s before you whiff this steamy pile of fresh shit. You will have done better than the authors, who have no sense of history or decency.
Well, the Fair Tax is this: a straight 22% tax on everything you buy. This would replace the Income Tax, Social Security tax and Medicare Tax. Not only is this pie-in-the-sky BS, it is also dangerous. Think of the following:
1. The authors use "conservative" and "liberal" to describe Republicans and Democrats in the early 1900s. If you Freeze Dried Teddy Roosevelt (BULLY!) and dropped him (or 300 lb Taft, for that matter) in the present day, he would come up as more left than Nancy Pelosi, the great Right Wing Bogeywoman. Except that Taft and Roosevelt were not in bed with Big Business like Pelosi is. Most Liberals these days would shit the proverbial brick if confronted with a real Progressive. The authors here commit the sin of Presentism, forcing their narrow understandings on past political figures. What do you expect from a "talk show host"? What do you expect from "Limousine Liberals"?
2. From this, they claim that the poor would not be penalized under this arrangement. On page 113, they point out that there are three arenas from which opposition to their great idea will come:
a.a tax on consumption will lead to a black market
b.transition costs (never enumerated) would be unbearable
c.FairTax is "regressive" and will hurt the poor.
The authors mentally masturbate to answer the first two charges and sidestep the third. This is simply Steve Forbes' (once called a "toothy flake" by Pat Robertson) Flat Tax. Of COURSE the fucking tax is regressive. Using anecdotal evidence and selections from the Cato Institute, the authors sound like they know what they are talking about. Do you honestly think that corporations will voluntarily lower prices because their tax burdens are low?
3. They will not because of the bull shit argument that the authors make. Corporations are owned by shareholders, which the authors are nice enough to point out bear the tax burden for the rest of us. As Bender said, "B-O-O-H-O-O". Will corporations not try to increase profits to benefit the same shareholders? Of course they will. These guys are the usual right wing bull shit artists, where individuals are king and corporations are your friend. Tell that to people in the Gulf who are fighting with BP right now. These fuckers care little about individuals and care only about cash. I can appreciate that but I do not like it.
4. The authors claim "Only Individuals create wealth" (34). It is the height of naivete to think that businesses of any stripe will not take steps to maximize profits.According to the US Supreme Court, corporations are individuals. According to Ambrose Bierce, a corporation exists to "relieve the individual of responsibility". Look at the BP oil spill; who is to blame? Or the explosion of a pipeline in San Bruno, CA last year. The company demands that the taxpayers foot some of the bill. And we will, even though it is not our fault. The authors of this text believe that corporate interest and individuals will act for the good of the whole.
This is a fundamental misreading of Adam Smith. Human beings are selfish and we will act for our own benefit. On the whole, we could not give two rats asses about the state of the country. We will look for ourselves. Of course, the authors of this text tip their hand on page 1 by saying that "of the 10 things that Marx (BOO!) wanted, #2 is the graduated income tax." Of course, #10 is free public education, the same system these jack asses have done their level best to destroy.
If you want to take the US back to the 1890s, this is the book for you. But, for your own good, read a few books about the 1890s and 1880s before you whiff this steamy pile of fresh shit. You will have done better than the authors, who have no sense of history or decency.
Fairtax is a farce, literally
ReplyDeletehttp://fairtaxfineprint.blogspot.com/